法律英语词汇“nervous shock”的翻译、意思、用法、释义-法律词典

单词

nervous shock

释义

nervous shock

nervous shock a phrase used to describe a certain class of claim, usu- ally in negligence, where the plaintiff is not injured in the sense of a physical injury. It is not strictly speaking a medical term nor is it strictly speaking a legal category. Nervous shock arises when a plaintiff has not suffered direct physical injury, for example, being run down. Instead, the plaintiff claims to have been so affected by the incident in question that he suffers from a recognised condition as a result: 'It is not enough . . . for the pursuers [plaintiffs] in each case to show simply that they got a fright and suffered an emotional reaction, if no visible disability or provable illness or injury fol- lowed': Simpson v. ICI 1983 SLT 601. The FLOODGATES' fear that there would be an army of lying plaintiffs and crooked lawyers and dubi- ous psychiatrists resulted in a strict approach to recovery, demand- ing that the plaintiff had to be at or about the scene of the incident that caused the shock. The position has now been reached where ner- vous shock is recoverable subject to three major factors:

(1) the relationship of the parties. Plaintiffs should be able to stand

the death of strangers, close friends and even relatives as close as sib- lings. In the case of parents and spouses of the deceased, the neces-

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nexus

sary relationship is assumed – in other cases it would be for the plaintiff to establish the intimacy of the relationship;

(2) the means of perception should be unaided senses; things seen on television are unlikely to trigger recovery, still less a written report;

(3) plaintiffs to be successful should be at or near the scene or at least its aftermath. See McLoughlin v. O'Brian [1983] AC 410 and its inter- pretation in Alcock v. Chief Constable of Yorkshire Police [1991] 3 WLR 1057.

However, where a party is considered by the law, unlike the cases above, to be a primary victim then damages are recoverable without any of these qualifications. So it was held in the House of Lords in Page v. Smith [1996] 1 AC 155 in which the plaintiff's ME flared up after a minor collision in which he was not physically injured.

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