Spittle v Bunney

Damages for a child’s loss of a deceased parent’s services must reflect the services’ changing nature and value throughout the dependency. A professional nanny’s wage may provide a useful measure while the child is young. It becomes progressively less appropriate as the child grows more independent. The court must stand back from the arithmetic and assess a fair overall sum.

Recovery does not depend on employing a paid substitute. Gratuitous care supplied by a relative is not deducted. Where a claimant’s unjustifiable delay warrants withholding interest, the deduction applies at the full guideline rate. The ordinary inflationary component of that rate is not a special circumstance permitting a lesser deduction.

A van driven by the defendant mounted a pavement, killing the mother of a three-year-old child and injuring the child. The child was thereafter brought up without charge by her maternal aunt.

Turner J awarded £8,000 general damages for the child’s physical and psychological injuries and £47,000 under the Fatal Accidents Acts for the lost value of her mother’s services. He also awarded interest, subject to a reduced deduction for delay attributable to the plaintiffs.

The defendant appealed against the personal injury award, the assessment of the lost maternal services and the treatment of interest. The principal questions were how the changing value of a mother’s services should be assessed over a long dependency and how unjustifiable delay should affect interest.

1. The appeal was allowed to the extent stated. Croom-Johnson LJ delivered the leading judgment. Woolf and Dillon LJJ agreed without qualification.
2. The £3,000 awarded for the finger injury was appealably high and was reduced to £1,500. The £5,000 awarded for psychological injury was high but not shown to be appealably high. Its assessment therefore remained with the trial judge.
3. A child may recover the monetary value of services which a deceased mother would have provided. Recovery does not depend on a paid substitute having been employed. Nor are gratuitous substitute services provided by a relative deducted from the child’s loss. The governing assessment under section 2 of the Fatal Accidents Act 1846 remains a fact-sensitive jury question.
4. A nanny’s wage may be a fair guide while a very young child needs full-time care. It cannot be applied at a constant, inflation-adjusted rate throughout the dependency. As the child reaches school age and becomes more independent, the amount and nature of the required maternal services change. Commercial nanny rates then become progressively less comparable. The fact-finder must use the available evidence, stand back from the arithmetic and apply common sense to the overall result.
5. The multiplier of 11, extending no further than the child’s anticipated dependency at age 22, was not shown to be excessive. The multiplicand nevertheless required adjustment to reflect the diminishing relevance of nanny rates. The £47,000 award was set aside and £25,000 substituted, apportioned as £22,000 for the period before trial and £3,000 thereafter.
6. Unjustifiable delay by a claimant is a special reason under section 3 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 for withholding interest during the period of delay. The ordinary division of an interest rate into inflation and investment elements is common to all cases and is not a special circumstance justifying a departure from the established guidelines. Two years’ interest on the dependency loss therefore had to be deducted at the full applicable rate.
7. Judgment was entered for the plaintiff for £39,609 inclusive of interest. The costs order below remained undisturbed, and there was no order as to the costs of the appeal except for legal aid taxation.

1. Court of Appeal: The defendant’s appeal was allowed in part. The awards for the finger injury and lost maternal services were reduced, and the interest calculation was corrected. Judgment was entered for £39,609 inclusive of interest.
2. High Court: Turner J had awarded £8,000 for the child’s personal injuries, £47,000 under the Fatal Accidents Acts and interest subject to a reduced deduction for the plaintiffs’ delay.