Who is entitled to a remedy for pure psychiatric injury caused by negligence?
A vast body of case law has shaped the law as it stands today, and a detailed consideration is beyond the scope of this article. However, a process of elimination can assist in assessing whether or not a claimant can succeed in a claim for damages. It is necessary firstly to consider whether or not a claimant is a primary or secondary victim. Primary victims Primary victims will have been directly involved in the accident and need only establish that injury to them was reasonably foreseeable. There are three categories of primary victim: 1 Participants – persons in the area of physical danger when the accident occurred who were either directly at risk of bodily injury or reasonably believed this to be so; 2 Rescuers – persons who went to the aid of others involved in the accident and who were exposed to danger or reasonably believed themselves to be in danger (the assistance given must not be of a trivial nature); and 3 Unwilling participants – persons who believed they either were or
