Pure Psychiatric Injury

Question 1

Donachie v Manchester Police

Answer 1

The Primary victim must be in the zone of physical danger to establish a DOC

• officer was involved in a tagging operation and he tried 9 times to tag a criminals vehicle but it fell off as it was faulty
• He could recover as he was with the zone of physical danger; he could get caught and it would have lead to injury

Question 2

Fagan v Goodman

Answer 2

The physical injury while in the zone must be objectively foreseeable

• G failed to see a police motorcycle and collided with him
• F stopped to help the officer who died
• F could not recover as there was no objective danger and therefore he was not a primary victim

Question 3

White v Yorkshire Police

Answer 3

The status of rescuers in English law as Primary victims

• The police officers at the hillsborough disaster brought a claim
• They could not be primary victims as the danger had already passed

Question 4

Chadwick v British Transport Commission

Answer 4

The status of rescuers in English law as Primary victims

• C was a rescuer in a train disaster and he spent hours pulling the dead from burning trains
• He could recover as a primary victim as he was within the zone of physical danger

Question 5

Hunter v British Coal

Answer 5

the guilt ridden primary victim must be within the zone of physical danger

• Backed into a fire hydrant which exploded and killed a fellow employee
• He could not recover as he was not in the zone of physical danger when the hydrant exploded

Question 6

W v Essex

Answer 6

the guilt ridden primary victim must be within the zone of physical danger; Contradicting Case

• foster parents took a kid in that abused their children
• they were allowed to proceed as Primary Victims
• unsure why as they were not within the zone of physical danger

Question 7

CJD Litigation

Answer 7

Fear of the Future claimant (permitted on Caparo Analysis)

• HGH from cadavers was used in a trial for dwarfism sufferers
• There was a DOC owed but on Caparo analysis

Question 8

Walker v Northumberland

Answer 8

Stress at Workplace Claimant; where the employer knows that an employee is vulnerable or where it is apparent that psychiatric injury could result form the work

• Social worker had a nervous breakdown and would only come back when the employer agreed to reduce his workload
• the workload wasn’t reduced and he had another breakdown
• Held: The employer owed a DOC to avoid psychiatric injury

Question 9

Farrell v Avon

Answer 9

Special circumstances where C is elevated to PV because there is no primary victim at all

• F conceived a baby with a woman and was allowed to be there for the birth
• He was a recovering heroin addict
• He was told that the baby had died and that he could spent some time with it
• Found out that his baby was actually fine and he had a breakdown
• there was no immediate victim
• Held: he was elevated to a Primary victim because he was the only victim

Question 10

McLoughlin v OBrian

Answer 10

Secondary Victim; A spectator or Bystandard; a passive and unwilling witness

• her husband and children were in a car accident and within 2 hours she was at the hospital and saw them all bloodied
• Held that she could recover as a secondary victim as she was at the immediate aftermath of the accident

Question 11

Alcock v South Yorkshire

Answer 11

Secondary Victim

• relatives of the people who died in the Hillsborough disaster and had seen/heard of it on TV
• Held: they could not recover as secondary victims as they were not a witness of the events within the immediate aftermath

Question 12

Glamorgan v Walters

Answer 12

Secondary Victim

• he brought her baby in for treatment and within 36 hours the baby suffered from liver failure and died
• Dubbed a seamless tale of woe
• She could recover as a secondary victim

Question 13

Attia v British Gas

Answer 13

Misfit cases: Succeed on the Caparo Test

• She contracted to have them install her heating
• Came home to watch her house burn down for 4 hours
• She was allowed to proceed on Caparo analysis as she watched the destruction of her valued property

Question 14

Leach v Gloucestshire Police

Answer 14

Misfit Case: Succeeded on Caparo

• Voluntary worker was assigned to a serial killer to help take records
• She was left alone with him for extended periods
• she suffered PTSD
• Held: she was allowed to proceed on Caparo

Question 15

Page v Smith

Answer 15

Provided some kind of personal injury was foreseeable it did not matter whether the injury was physical or psychiatric

Question 16

Tan v East London HA

Answer 16

Secondary Victim opposite Farrell

• T was awaiting the birth of his child when his wife was negligently treated at a hospital and her baby died in utero as a result
• T stayed for the stillbirth
• He had a mental breakdown as a result
• He could not satisfy the secondary victim status and his claim failed

Question 17

Taylor v Somerset

Answer 17

The Immediate aftermath

• The husband was misdiagnosed with a heart condition and died at work
• The wife showed up to the hospital 20 minutes later and suffered from shock
• She couldn’t recover because she was neither at the scene of his death or was she present when he was negligently misdiagnosed