The “Anomalous” Fatal Accidents Act – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted May 12th, 2014 in bereavement, compensation, damages, news, restitution, Supreme Court by sally

‘Those are not my words but the view expressed on 2 April by Lord Sumption on the effective over-compensation which can result under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (“the FAA”). The other Supreme Court Justices agreed with him. He expressed the view that, “What is clear is that sections 3 and 4 [of the FAA] mark a departure from the ordinary principles of assessment in English law, which can fairly be described as anomalous”. This was in a Supreme Court case which had to decide whether in a foreign accident case to apply German principles of assessment of damages (effectively full compensation) or English law in the form of the FAA: Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG (formerly known as Victoria) [2014] UKSC 22.’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 11th April 2014

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk