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Work accident claim news
05/03/2008
Employers held accountable for suicide
The House of Lords have made a landmark decision regarding the work accident claim of a woman who was left widowed by the suicide of her husband after he developed a depressive illness following his suffering a blow to the head during an accident at work. All five Lords upheld the Court of Appeal's decision that the late man's employers should pay compensation to his wife for the "pain and suffering" of enduring his suicide.
In giving the work accident claim decision at the House of Lords, Lord Bingham said, "In the present case suicide was not a voluntary, informed decision taken by him as an adult of sound mind, making and giving effect to a personal decision about his future.
"It was the response of a man suffering from a severe depressive illness which impaired his capacity to make reasoned and informed judgments about his future, such illness being, as is accepted, a consequence of the employer's [actions].
"It is in no way unfair to hold the employer responsible for this dire consequence of its breach of duty, although it could well be thought unfair to the victim not to do so."
At the heart of the case lay issues of "reasonable forseeability", with the judge being persuaded by the personal injury lawyer of the claimant, who argued that, since suicide can be an "involuntary act" of a depressed person, the cause of the depressive illness can be seen as having a direct causal effect on the suicide itself.
As one personal injury lawyer with extensive experience in the area of work accident claims explained after the case, "The House of Lords have recast the test of foreseeability for negligence with workplace accidents to accord with the reality of mental illness that stems from a traumatic event.
"As their Lordships remarked in this case, suicide was not a voluntary act by a man of sound mind but someone suffering from depression caused by an employer's negligence.
"Whilst not opening the floodgates, it will clearly make claims involving consequential illness more straightforward."
