McLoughlin v O'Brian

A mother who saw her injured family in hospital about two hours after a road accident, before they had been cleaned up, could recover for psychiatric illness as she came within the immediate aftermath.

Citation

[1983] 1 AC 410

Court

House of Lords

Year

1983

Subject

Tort Law

Topic

Psychiatric injury

Facts

Mrs McLoughlin's husband and three of her children were involved in a road accident caused by the defendant's negligence. Her youngest daughter was killed, and her husband and other children were seriously injured. She was at home two miles away, and was told about the accident about an hour later. She went to the hospital, where she saw her family covered in oil and mud, and in great pain. She suffered severe shock and depression.

Legal principle

The House of Lords held that she was entitled to damages. Lord Wilberforce said that the claimant's proximity to the accident must be close in both time and space, but that a person who comes upon the immediate aftermath of the accident may recover. There must also be a close relationship with the victim, and the shock must come through sight or hearing of the event or its immediate aftermath. Lord Bridge preferred a test based on reasonable foreseeability alone. The Alcock criteria were later based on Lord Wilberforce's approach.

Related cases on psychiatric injury

• Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 AC 310
• Barber v Somerset County Council [2004] UKHL 13, [2004] 1 WLR 1089
• Bourhill v Young [1943] AC 92
• Chadwick v British Railways Board [1967] 1 WLR 912
• Dulieu v White & Sons [1901] 2 KB 669
• Greatorex v Greatorex [2000] 1 WLR 1970
• Hambrook v Stokes Brothers [1925] 1 KB 141
• Hatton v Sutherland [2002] EWCA Civ 76, [2002] ICR 613

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