BLM – SECONDARY VICTIM CLAIMS FOLLOWING PAUL V ROYAL HAMPTON NHS TRUST. WHAT IS THE RELEVANT EVENT?

• FOIL
• FOIL Ireland
• FOIL Scotland
• London FOIL

Authors - Alistair Kinley & Greg McEwen

Secondary victim claims for psychiatric injury present claimants with a particular set of difficulties, namely the control mechanisms laid out in the case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (which followed the Hillsborough stadium disaster). In order to succeed, a secondary victim must prove that he or she: (1) witnessed a shocking or horrifying event (or its immediate aftermath), (2) suffered a recognised psychiatric injury, (3) had a close tie of love and affection with the primary victim of the event, (4) witnessed the event directly and (5) was sufficiently “proximate" to the event in both time and space. But what is the event the secondary claimant must have witnessed in order to satisfy the control mechanisms? A line of case law had developed over the years, suggesting that the tortfeasor’s negligence and the resultant shocking event must be one and the same.