Secondary Victim Claims: Paul V Royal Wolverhampton NHST

A secondary victim is one who suffers psychiatric injury not by being directly involved in the incident but by witnessing (or fearing) injury to a primary victim. The courts have laid down strict control mechanisms with the aim of limiting numbers of claims that could arise from one single incident.

The lead case on secondary victims is Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police sets out the control mechanisms. The claimant needs to prove that:

1. It was reasonably foreseeable that a person of "normal fortitude" or "ordinary phlegm" might suffer psychiatric injury by shock. There must also be a recognised psychiatric injury suffered.
2. There was a close tie of love and affection to the primary victim.