Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Nervous shock

Legal area

Court

8 May 2017

LAM PO YEE AND ANOTHER v. DR CHAN YEE SHING also known as DR CHAN YEE SHING ALVIN

Citation

LAM PO YEE AND ANOTHER v. DR CHAN YEE SHING also known as DR CHAN YEE SHING ALVIN
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI62/2011

Liability for the medical negligence was admitted. The court accepted that both parents suffered recognisable psychiatric disorders triggered by the index incident and awarded damages for PSLA and certain economic and care losses. The Medical Council correspondence produced a separate psychiatric setback for which the defendant was not responsible and which was largely objectively irrelevant to the pleaded cause; accordingly the court excluded or discounted losses attributable solely to that separate event. The father care claim was valued by reference to notional earnings reduced for modest…
8 May 2017

LAM PO YEE AND ANOTHER v. DR CHAN YEE SHING also known as DR CHAN YEE SHING ALVIN

Citation

LAM PO YEE AND ANOTHER v. DR CHAN YEE SHING also known as DR CHAN YEE SHING ALVIN
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI62/2011

The defendant’s strike out application was dismissed because the pleadings adequately alleged a causal link between the nervous shock/psychiatric injury and the claimed economic losses for both parents, the available factual and expert evidence required full trial assessment rather than summary disposal, and the claim for loss of congenial employment could not be struck out on the pleaded material.
7 Nov 2012

YANG YEE MAN, the administratrix of the estate of LAM LOK KIN, deceased v. LEUNG HING HUNG

Citation

YANG YEE MAN, the administratrix of the estate of LAM LOK KIN, deceased v. LEUNG HING HUNG
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI443/2010

Paragraph 29 (loss of services provided by the deceased to his daughter after returning from work) was a valid claim and reinstated; the plaintiff's claims for her own medical expenses and loss of earnings were not a proper measure of the deceased's lost services and were therefore not recoverable under the Fatal Accidents regime, so those paragraphs were dismissed; leave to adduce clinical psychologist evidence was dismissed because the primary pleaded heads it would support were unsustainable.
11 Oct 2004

WONG FUNG SZE AND ANOTHER v. HOSPITAL AUTHORITY

Citation

WONG FUNG SZE AND ANOTHER v. HOSPITAL AUTHORITY
Court

District Court
Case number

DCPI112/2004

On the pleaded facts and proposed amendments the 2nd Plaintiff could not, as a matter of law, establish the necessary technical 'shock' required for a secondary victim; a sequence of events occurring over two to four months are gradual assaults on the nervous system not a single horrifying event; misrepresentation does not obviate the requirement to prove shock; consequently there was no arguable case with reasonable prospects of success and leave to appeal was refused.
7 Jul 2004

WONG FUNG SZE AND ANOTHER v. HOSPITAL AUTHORITY

Citation

WONG FUNG SZE AND ANOTHER v. HOSPITAL AUTHORITY
Court

District Court
Case number

DCPI112/2004

The judge held that the 2nd Plaintiff's pleaded case (and the proposed amendment) disclosed no reasonable cause of action because her psychiatric illness was shown by the medical evidence and pleadings to result from a gradual accumulation of distress over approximately four months rather than from a sudden 'shock'; her attempt to recharacterise herself as a primary victim or rescuer failed as there was no objective exposure to danger or reasonable belief of such exposure; accordingly the amendment was refused and the 2nd Plaintiff's claim struck out and dismissed.
17 Sept 2001

LILY TSE LAI YIN AND OTHERS v. THE INCORPORATED OWNERS OF ALBERT HOUSE AND OTHERS

Citation

LILY TSE LAI YIN AND OTHERS v. THE INCORPORATED OWNERS OF ALBERT HOUSE AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI828/1997

The court accepted medical evidence that the 2nd plaintiff suffered moderate to severe PTSD as a result of witnessing her mother’s death, placed the injury between lower and middle of the serious injury band, adopted a multiplier of 14 for future loss of earnings, awarded specified sums for heads of damage and interests as calculated, and thus assessed total damages of HK$2,212,603 in favour of the 2nd plaintiff.
29 Feb 2000

TANG MEI YING AND ANOTHER v. LAM PAK CHIU AND ANOTHER

Citation

TANG MEI YING AND ANOTHER v. LAM PAK CHIU AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV319/1999

The Court upheld the trial judge's factual assessment on loss of accumulation of wealth and declined to interfere; however, it held the widow's loss of earnings was not recoverable as a dependency under the Fatal Accidents Ordinance because it was loss of her own earnings resulting from her ceasing work and the loss of childcare services provided by the deceased's mother was too remote and not reasonably foreseeable, so that part of the judgment must be set aside.
28 Mar 1979

MELVYN JAMES GREEN AND OTHERS v. TONG KWAN WAH AND ANOTHER

Citation

MELVYN JAMES GREEN AND OTHERS v. TONG KWAN WAH AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA256/1979

Court held that (1) damages for pain and suffering should include allowance for the particular horror and mental anguish experienced without requiring separate medical evidence for nervous shock; (2) plaintiffs are entitled to full replacement value for the severely damaged new pram and sunglasses without reduction for limited subsequent use; (3) the fourth plaintiff (employer) is entitled to recover wages and accommodation paid to the first plaintiff during his incapacity as a per quod type recovery because the employee's services were essential and not readily replaceable.