04 July 2016

As personal injury practitioners, there has been a continuing battle against the uncertainty of what the appropriate award should be to grieving relatives for loss of their loved ones. In our 2015 case law round-up we reported on the highest award ever made by a Scottish Jury for distress, grief and loss of society in the case of Anderson & others v Brig Brae Garage Ltd. In that case, the widow was awarded £140,000, an infant child £80,000 and father £80,000.

There has now been a further jury determination in the case of Hamish Stanger & Ors v Flaws and Anr.

The pursuers were the family of a 64 year old woman who was killed instantly in a head on collision. Liability was not disputed. Claims were made by her widowed husband, three sons, six grandchildren and six siblings. A number of the family members accepted tenders in advance of the trial and two accepted tenders during the trial. However, the widowed husband (68 at the date of death and 72 at the date of trial), two sons in their 40s and three teenage grandchildren continued with their claims to trial.

The judge’s suggested parameters to the jury were, for the widower £80,000-£120,000, sons £30,000-£70,000 and grandchildren £12,000-£28,000.

The jury went on to award the widow £120,000, the sons £50,000 each and the grandchildren aged 15, 15 and 13: £20,000, £15,000 and £15,000 respectively.

The widower’s award was at the top of the judge’s range.

The range given for the adult sons’ awards was also high. Recent authorities have shown a general trend of £35,000 to adult children with slightly higher awards being made when the children are of tender years.

The range given for the grandchildren’s awards was not out of line with previous cases where awards were between £12,000 and £25,000 depending on the child’s age and the closeness of relationship. Evidence was led that one of the 15 year old grandchildren had a very close relationship with the deceased. Previous awards at the upper end have been made where the grandparents have had a closer, and more of a parental, role.

In addition to the loss of society awards, the jury made an award of almost £60,000 to the widow for domestic assistance the deceased would have provided but for the accident. One of the sons also received an award of £7,500 from the jury for childcare.

This upward trend of jury awards, particularly for spouses, may lead to continuing unpredictability for insurers when setting reserves.

If you would like further information about this update, please do not hesitate to contact: