Bourhill v Young [1943] AC 92<\/strong><\/p>\n NEGLIGENCE \u2013 PSYCHIATRIC DAMAGE \u2013 DUTY OF CARE \u2013 PROXIMITY \u2013 REMOTENESS<\/p>\n Mr Young had been negligently riding his motorcycle and was responsible for a collision with car in which he himself suffered fatal injuries. At the time of the crash, Mrs Bourhill (C) was in the process of leaving a tram about 50 feet away. C heard the crash and, after Mr Young\u2019s body had been removed from the scene, she approached and witnessed the immediate aftermath. C was 8 months pregnant at the time of the incident and later gave birth to a stillborn child. C subsequently brought an action against Mr Young\u2019s estate, claiming she had suffered nervous shock, stress and sustained loss due to the negligence of D.<\/p>\n The principal issue on appeal to the House of Lords was whether D owed a duty of care to C. In order for such a duty to be found it had to be said that that C was both sufficiently proximate to the incident itself and, if so, that D ought reasonably to have foreseen that, in driving negligently, he might cause psychiatric damage to a person hearing the crash from C\u2019s position.<\/p>\n D was not liable for any psychiatric harm that C might have suffered as a result of the accident. It was not foreseeable that C would suffer psychiatric harm as a result of D negligently causing a loud traffic accident, nor was C sufficiently proximate to the scene of the crash itself. D, therefore, could owe no duty of care to C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mr Young had been negligently riding his motorcycle and was responsible for a collision with car in which he himself suffered fatal injuries. At the time of the crash, Mrs Bourhill (C) was in the process of leaving a tram about 50 feet away. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-5543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","tag-uk-law"],"yoast_head":"\nFacts<\/h3>\n
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Decision\/Outcome<\/h3>\n