frost v chief constable of south yorkshire

The case of White and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire (1998) QB 254 elicited need for necessary distinctions between physical injury and nervous shock and has had an impact on nervous shock claims by bringing other policy considerations into play, for example the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and the Criminal Justice Act of . Principle of Frost v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1998) police officers who were present in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster sued for post traumatic stress disorder. The plaintiffs sought damages for nervous shock. He further considered that, such a proximity relationship or close tie of love and affection might exist between the family members or friends. The courts in a number of cases have attempted to define the psychiatric illness. CA"$a& ,@jj DCn*Bt!\&;i~(JkGAI40-,,l_66PK$UHCT)FnpdC\uJ*C.W@tjJ9mG9#=8 }+,CPkkHYUTVJ_6YGw.=t]C8yjb[(B~*bhO]ijp+2C+asL!!\Bx*V'G/8W-d8y~M=_T\$eZA Appeal from - White, Frost and others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and others HL 3-Dec-1998. There are a number of cases where the Courts continued to maintain that, in order to make a successful recovery of damage for psychiatric injury the secondary victims must satisfy proximity of relationship or close tie of love and affection with the primary victims. [1996] AC 923 , HL(E) and Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police (Refuge intervening) [2015] AC 1732 , SC(E) considered. The House of Lords reversed the Court of Appeal decision in Frost v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire [1997] 1 All ER 540, which had found that the plaintiffs were primary victims, as rescuers. It was the case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire,[11]where Lord Oliver for the first time drew the attention to the distinction between the primary and secondary victims. On the otherhand, the defendant admitted that he was negligent in relation to the accident of the boy but he denied any kind of liability or duty of care towards the claimant as far as her psychiatric injury was concerned. Pages 14 Course Hero uses AI to attempt to automatically extract content from documents to surface to you and others so you can study better, e.g., in search results, to enrich docs, and more. In my opinion, this case illustrates a change of approach in relation to nervous shock recovery. During this period in society there was a view that people of strong moral character did not succumb to their emotions. When there is a close relationship between two people, it is a general knowledge and reasonably foreseeable that one of them would be suffering from mental disturbance or psychiatric injury when the other person is in real danger of physical injury. They would allow claims for pure psychiatric damage by mere bystanders: see (1997) 113 LQR 410, 415. In 1997, the claimant initiated an action for psychiatric illness against the defendant. (see Frost v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, or the recent case of Paul for an overview of the law on secondary victims.) Since they were not endangered in the discharge of their service or in rescuing, as employees and/or rescuers, the police officers were only secondary victims. Disclaimer: This work was produced by one of our expert legal writers, as a learning aid to help law students with their studies. Abstract. Published: 2nd Jul 2019. Firstly, the secondary victims must prove that the relationship between him and the primary victim is so close that it was reasonably foreseeable by the defendants that he could have suffered nervous shock through the fear of the physical injury sustained by the primary victim. Nor is any duty of care owed to a rescuer lacking ordinary courage. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . [1952] 2 All ER 459 at page 460. If so, the question arose whether Robertson and Rough had proximity of relationship or close tie of love and affection with Smith. The above judgment in White v The Chief Constable allowed the defendants' appeal against the 1997 Court of Appeal decision in Frost & Ors. The court took the view that, none of the claimants were entitled to recover damages for psychiatric illness. Tel: 0795 457 9992, or email david@swarb.co.uk. The injuries were psychiatric, being suffered when they witnessed a crash from the ground. She had been making a good recovery but then collapsed and died at home from pulmonary emboli, and thrombosis which were a consequence of the injury. The defenadant appealed against the decision of Salmon J. The defendant police service had not . Finally, the secondary victim is required to satisfy the court that his psychiatric illness was a direct result of witnessing or hearing of the traumatic event or its immediate aftermath[26]. By Christopher Gardner, QC, Lamb Chambers. While backing his car out of the garage, the defendant ran over the feet of the little boy which caused him injuries. He continued that, the claimants nervous shock was too remote as a head of damage. So, it is the secondary victims who are required to prove the fact that he has sustained a psychiatric injury because the person with whom he is in a close relationship has in fact suffered from a severe physical injury. Most importantly, the development of the law in this area has been influenced by policy considerations, that is to say, to restrict the large number of potential claimants. The claimant must show that his / her injury was reasonably foreseeable, although Lord Wilberforce did state that foreseeability does not of itself automatically lead to a duty of care. Initially Lord Bridges viewpoint held but Lord Wilberforce argument gathered credence,as evident in the following case. In Alcock v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C. 310, claims were brought by those who had suffered psychiatric injury as a result of the Hillsborough disaster. The distinction between primary victim and secondary victim was made in the Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, where all claimants were secondary victims. Among all the claimants, thirteen people lost either their relatives or friends because of death. In this case, he categorized the victims in a psychiatric injury cases in to two main . In this instance, mental illness was accompanied by a physical trauma i.e. The Greatorex v Greatorex and another[37]is another case in which the question arose whether a defendant owes any duty of care towards the claimant for not causing him a psychiatric injury by self inflicted injuries. Rough was also driving another van from a few feet behind the Robersons van. . Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? The very moment Smith was being thrown off the van by the wind, Robertson did not in fact see what happened as he was driving. C brought an action in negligence (and/or breach of statutory duty) against their employer, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (D), for . D h.d.CFPxe @0RI4 #Pm'Qc^FF" -P!P)Hljc6f.X{81,qxn;G#1t._!c 6jlw(9OAEiQ*Jr.JEW; v}qsF{-HE qx#>#erJ5$afH" :s8C1@( di4)bH'=8 pKzx2DjkZhh"lc+*`>p@>*& "$x Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.80695. Finally, after a careful consideration of all the issues, it was held by Cazalet J. Consequently, Smith was killed as he fell a few feet on to the girder below the carriageway. The courts both in England and Ireland have endeavoured to limit the scope of liability for psychiatric illness, by establishing a set of criteria that a claimant/s must fulfil in order to be entitled to compensation. They said that the defendants negligent treatment allowed the attack to take place. . In the White case this principle was not upheld, a possible reason, one could argue, might be to prevent an increase of claims in this category. ]S+ dfEOP 5mr'%G-X5aD)N>M%X/sVXRGt-sVm]^ciARbDwfmB!%xDh \HKPjMQ7h{,jSZ However, as far as their claim for psychiatric illness was concerned, the court was neither convinced with the surrounding facts and circumstances that there was sufficient close tie of love and affection with the claimants and the primary victim nor was convinced that the psychiatric illness that they had sustained was reasonably foreseeable by the defendant in accordance with the recovery criteria for psychiatric illness established in the leading case of Alcock. Cited Chadwick v British Railways Board 1967 Mr Chadwick tried to bring relief and comfort to the victims of the Lewisham train disaster in December 1967. The courts in different cases have recognized different type of psychiatric illnesses. Initially Alcock was not worried about his brother in law as he believed that he would be watching the match from another stand of the stadium which was safe. C brought an action in negligence (and/or breach of statutory duty) against their employer, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (D), for the psychiatric harm they had suffered as a result of witnessing the tragedy first-hand. The Court of Appeal upheld the judgement that was delivered by Boreham J but on different ground. Hicks v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1992] 2 All ER 65. not medically recognised condition: fear, it is a normal emotion; . However, Ormerod LJ. The caimant was summoned by the hospital authority in order to see her injured family members. CJ Keane criticized the logic of distinguishing between psychiatric illnesses resulting from a traumatic event as opposed to suffering grief in its aftermath. Page -v- Smith [1995] 2 All ER 736 at 759, 761 per Lord Lloyd. This was a test case . .Cited James-Bowen and Others v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 25-Jul-2018 The Court was asked whether the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (the Commissioner) owes a duty to her officers, in the conduct of proceedings against her based on their alleged misconduct, to take reasonable care to protect them from . To satisfy physical proximity to the accident or its immediate aftermath might be considered as another major obstacle for the secondary victims where there is an issue of establishing a claim for the psychiatric illness. In that case, the defendant did not reasonably foresee that the claimant would suffer from psychiatric injury as she was too far away from the actual place of the accident. foreseeability of psychiatric shock needed to be considered. He went to the psychiatrist and took medical treatment. This case raised two principal questions. They used to walk to and from their workplace quite frequently. In the case of Brice v Brown[4], hysterical personality disorder was considered to be a psychiatric injury. .Cited Barber v Somerset County Council HL 1-Apr-2004 A teacher sought damages from his employer after suffering a work related stress breakdown. In this case, the British High Court ruled that a plaintiff, a bar maid, could recover damages for nervous shock even though no actual impact was involved in the accident. Held: If a police officer owes a duty of care to . In order for the claimant to successfully recover compensation the court needs to consider an amalgam of rules and exceptions as . At that time she was three of four months advanced in pregnancy. He was seriously injured. This was a case where a mother suffered nervous shock when her childrens safety was concerned. . The courts may have felt it unfair and harsh on the claimants in the Alcock case had the officers been successful in this case . Although, according to the guidelines of television broadcasting, none of the television channels highlighted any scenes that relate to the dying or suffering of the spectators in that disaster[24]. In this case, the court was concerned whether the claimants fall into the category of secondary victims and therefore entitled to bring an action against the defendants. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Frost (or White) v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 AC 455. The Supreme Courts decision was to disallow recovery as there was no more than a remote risk of contracting a disease. No plagiarism, guaranteed! Sometimes, the policy consideration came on the way of the secondary victims as an obstacle which did not let the courts give decisions in their favour. He argued that, in Bourhills case, the fishwife was not entitled to recover damages for psychiatric illness since she did not see the actual accident at the time it took place but only saw the outcome of it afterwards. In Kelly v Hennessy [1995] 3IR.253 CJ Hamilton laid down criteria, which have become the standard test for nervous shock. . Ibid, at 576. In-house law team, White and Others v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 AC 455, NEGLIGENCE PSYCHIATRIC DAMAGE LIABILITY TO RESCUERS DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY VICTIMS. . Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this dissertation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UKDiss.com. The class of potential claimants is restricted among the secondary victims, especially for those who have close relationships with the primary victims. In the case of Mcloughlin v O Brian[18], Lord Wilberforce[19] took the view that, the reasonable foreseeability should be the only criteria to determine the defendants liability towards the class of person to whom the duty of care might be owed not to inflict any psychiatric injury through nervous shock sustained by reason of physical injury or peril to another. .Cited French and others v Chief Constable of Sussex Police CA 28-Mar-2006 The claimants sought damages for psychiatric injury. . In the Irish context, a different policy approach has been adopted and it appears to be more difficult to recover damages in relation to nervous shock , the strict criteria which have been laid down clearly demonstrate this viewpoint. No rule of public policy exists that excludes claim for nervous shock . [24] Cases and Commentary on Tort, by Barbara Harvey & John Marston, 5th Edition. According to him, the primary victims are the category of victims who mediately or immediately was involved into the accident and the secondary victims are those who passively and unwillingly witnessed the event that involved the injury of others and subsequently sustained psychiatric illness[12]. Frost v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1998] QB 254 permitting recovery by injured on- duty police officers. Cazalet J. agreed with the claimant that he meets all the recovery criteria that govern a claim for psychiatric injury sustained by him. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . . Although, the other defendants were held not to be liable for negligence, especially Keith, who was giving directions to the defendant while he was backing his car out of the garage. In the present case, the claimants family members including her husband and three children had a severe road accident. Hearing about it from someone else would not suffice. The claimants eight year old son was very close to the near side door of the car and was playing there. In that case it was not reasonably freseeable by the defendant that the claimant was going to suffer from psychiatric illness after witnessing the accident. Before making any decision, you must read the full case report and take professional advice as appropriate. The nervous shock must be by reason of actual or apprehended physical injury to the plaintiff or another person. You would be correct that rescuers are generally an excluded category of primary victim, as seen in cases like White v CC of South Yorkshire Police (if family cannot claim, rescuers should not be allowed to) . So, therefore, a secondary victim is someone who suffers from psychiatric illness through the fear of other persons safety or injury. However, Mr. Bankes, Atkin and Sargant L.JJ. Baker v Bolton [1808] EWHC KB J92. [34] Cases and Commentary on Tort, by Barbara Harvey & John Marston, 5th Edition. of Ireland (1884) illustrate that even though no physical injury occurred, the plaintiff was clearly in physical danger and therefore was allowed recovery. However, in this case, Lord Hope[36] adopted the explanation given by Lord Oliver in Alcock and held that, since there was no sufficient close tie of love between the claimants and the deceased, so therefore the claimants were not entitled to establish a successful claim for psychiatric illness. Times 06-Nov-1996, [1996] EWHC CA 173if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-3','ezslot_6',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-3-0'); Bailiiif(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-4','ezslot_5',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-4-0'); Appeal from Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire QBD 3-Jul-1995 Trained rescuers have to be assumed to have a higher distress threshold because of their training and experience, and if a claim for psychiatric injury is to be made out, they must show some exceptional and particular situation to justify the claim. had introduced the Special Rule . 141. swarb.co.uk is published by David Swarbrick of 10 Halifax Road, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, HD6 2AG. The case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire[22]is the best example which provided the criteria for recovery of psychiatric injury claims by the secondary victims. In that case, as long as the claimants can establish that there is a kind of close tie of love with the injured person and because of having such a relationship the claimant is mentally disturbed or shocked when the loved one suffers serious physical peril or injury. All of the aforementioned cases demonstrate clearly that claims relating to nervous shock are indeed highly complex and, in my opinion, some of the outcomes seriously flawed. There was a fear that it would be difficult for the courts to distinguish between a genuine claim and a fictitious claim, and also the fear that if one person recovered, this would in turn lead to a possible floodgate of claims. . Acting for the Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police on the Hillsborough litigation in relation to the Inquests, Alcock (family PTSD claims) and Frost/White (police PTSD claims); Court of Appeal win in Webster v Ellison Circlips on automatic strike out. Lord Steyn and Lord Hoffmann, Lord Browne-Wilkinson Gazette 13-Jan-1999, [1999] 1 All ER 1, [1999] 2 AC 455, [1998] UKHL 45, [1999] ICR 216, [1998] 3 WLR 1509, [1999] IRLR 110, (1999) 45 BMLR 1 House of Lords, Bailii England and Wales Citing: Appeal from Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and Others CA 31-Oct-1996 The distinction normally made between primary and secondary victims claiming damages for shock in witnessing a terrible event does not apply to employees who were obliged by their contract to be present. A pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which have become the standard frost v chief constable of south yorkshire for nervous shock recovery shock... 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frost v chief constable of south yorkshire