In the past year, I have had family members face me in several cases who had lost their loved one, aunt, father, sister or daughter. In a number of cases, the circumstances under which someone died were so severe that a loved one also suffered mental injury. In some cases, claims can then be made for shock damage.
Shock damage: when is there a right to it?
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that under circumstances a person may be entitled to shock damage. This is stipulated in the so-called Taxibus ruling. Beer advocaten assisted the mother in this sad matter.
The woman's 5-year-old daughter had been run over by a cab bus in the residential yard. The cab bus had run over her little head in the process. When her mother tried to turn her little daughter's head over, she reached into her skull and realized that she had not seen vomit but her daughter's skull contents. The mother developed a mental disorder after this violent confrontation.
At that time, the mother could only claim death damages. In the case of a minor child, the damages in that case are limited to only the funeral expenses.1 Litigation went all the way to the Supreme Court over whether the mother was entitled to further damages. The Supreme Court ruled that it did. The Supreme Court formulated several points of view. Claim for shock damages can be made when there are:
- death or serious injury,
- In which there is a confrontation with the accident or its serious consequences (confrontation requirement),
- and the confrontation produced intense emotional shock,
- from which mental injury (in the sense of an illness recognized in psychiatry, such as post-traumatic stress disorder) results.
Recent developments
The question of whether a bereaved person was confronted with the serious consequences of the accident (the confrontation requirement) has been the subject of much litigation. It was previously held that the mere identification of the deceased in a mortuary is not sufficient. At July 23, 2019 heeft het gerechtshof Den Haag geoordeeld dat onder omstandigheden de confrontatie met de overledene in het mortuarium wél voldoende is.
That case involved a 20-year-old French woman who had died as a result of a collision with a garbage truck. The garbage truck had driven over her head, fracturing her skull. When the woman was identified at the morgue by her parents and brother, they were confronted with the severe head injuries. Later, the family members also saw camera footage of the collision. According to the court, the confrontation requirement was met because of the visible effects of the serious injuries and the camera footage of the accident.
Retrieved from July 5, 2019 the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal ruled that Anne Faber's parents and brother are entitled to compensation for shock damage. Hoewel de broer Anne niet had geïdentificeerd in het mortuarium, was hij wel met de schokkende details van haar overlijden geconfronteerd door foto’s die hij van haar heeft gezien. Op de foto’s die genomen waren na haar opgraving waren sporen van geweld te zien. Die omstandigheden in combinatie met de enorme media-aandacht voor de zaak – zowel bij haar verdwijning, de vondst van haar lichaam alsook tijdens de strafprocedure – waarbij hij bekend is geworden met alle details uit het dossier, brachten mee dat hij net als zijn ouders recht had op een bedrag van € 40.000 aan shockschade. Aan de broer werd ook een schadevergoeding voor studievertraging toegekend.
Shock injury and our practice
Voor alle cliënten die ik bijsta, hoop ik dat zich na de heftige confrontatie met (de gevolgen van) het ongeval geen psychische stoornis ontwikkelt. Ik adviseer cliënten om na het ongeval zo snel mogelijk psychologische hulp te zoeken. Ik probeer in samenspraak met de verzekeraar een budget ter beschikking te stellen voor psychologische begeleiding; daar is naar mijn mening eenieder bij gebaat. Wanneer zich onverhoopt wel een psychische stoornis ontwikkelt, dan maak ik voor hen aanspraak op vergoeding van shockschade.
If you have questions about this blog, please contact the author, Mildred Brun.
1 Per 1 januari 2019 is dat iets verbeterd met de inwerkingtreding van de wet affection damage.