Vernon v Bosley (No.1) [1997] 1 All ER 577

Facts:

  • B appealed against a decision that V was entitled to recover damages for mental illness after witnessing the aftermath of a car accident caused by B’s negligent driving in which V’s two children died.
  • B accepted that V was entitled to damages for nervous shock, but argued that further damages for normal grief and bereavement contributing to the failure of V’s business ought to have been discounted as too remote.

 Issue:

  • Whether distress constitutes a ‘medically recognised condition’ such as to found a claim for damages for pure psychiatric injury in the tort of negligence?


 Ratio:

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Although grief and bereavement suffered due to the death of a family member were not actionable themselves, they were part and parcel of the nervous shock suffered by V as a consequence of witnessing the accident, notwithstanding that V’s mental illness was a pathological reaction.
  • There was sufficient evidence to find that the failure of V’s business was not the sole cause of his psychiatric illness.

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