The claimant was awarded damages from his employers, who claimed that the benefits received by the claimant from an insurance policy to which the defendants had contributed should be set off against the claim.
Held: McCamley was no longer good law as it applied to insurance policies where the employer had paid the premiums. There was no longer good reason to extend the benevolence exception to include payments made by tortfeasors to their victims. The essence of the benevolence exception is that it applies where payments have been made to the claimant by third parties from motives of sympathy. Neither the benevolence exception nor the insurance exception applied in the present case.
Judges:
Brooke, Mummery, Dyson LJJ
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 373, Times 02-Apr-2004, [2004] 1 WLR 2683, [2004] 3 All ER 348
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Not good law – McCamley v Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Limited CA 1990
The plaintiff suffered injury at work and claimed damages. He had received a lump sum under insurance provided by the defendant’s parent company for the benefit of employees injured at work. Did the lump sum payment fall to be deducted from the . .
Approved – Redpath v Belfast and County Down Railway CANI 1947
The plaintiff sought damages for personal injury. The defendant company sought to bring into account sums received by the plaintiff from a distress fund to which members of the public had contributed. Plaintiff’s counsel were said to having . .
Cited – Parry v Cleaver HL 5-Feb-1969
PI Damages not Reduced for Own Pension
The plaintiff policeman was disabled by the negligence of the defendant and received a disablement pension. Part had been contributed by himself and part by his employer.
Held: The plaintiff’s appeal succeeded. Damages for personal injury were . .
Cited – Hussain v New Taplow Paper Mills Ltd HL 1988
The plaintiff was injured in an accident at work. His employer was partly responsible. For 13 weeks he received full sick pay in accordance with his contract. He then received half his pre-accident earnings under the permanent health insurance . .
Cited – Hunt v Severs HL 7-Sep-1994
The tortfeasor, a member of the claimant’s family provided her with voluntary nursing care after the injury. The equivalent cost of that care, was recoverable, but would be held on trust for the carer. The underlying rationale of English Law is to . .
Cited – Westwood v Secretary of State for Employment HL 1985
The house considered the benevolence rule: ‘I do not see any analogy at all between the generosity of private subscribers to a fund for the victims of some disaster, who also have claims for damages against a tortfeasor, and the state providing . .
Cited – Hunt v Severs CA 13-May-1993
The plaintiff was injured by the negligence of the defendant. The defendant provided gratuitous nursing care and other assistance to the plaintiff. They married each other.
Held: Where the Plaintiff was voluntarily cared for by the Tortfeasor, . .
Cited – Hodgson v Trapp HL 10-Nov-1988
The question was whether the attendance and mobility allowances which were payable to the plaintiff pursuant to statute should be deducted from damages she had received for personal injury.
Held: They should be. Damages for negligence are . .
Cited – Royston Frederick Williams v BOC Gases Ltd CA 29-Mar-2000
The plaintiff claimed damages from his employer in respect of injuries suffered during the course of his employment. The defendant paid the claimant a sum to which he had no contractual entitlement, saying that it was to be treated as an advance . .
Cited – Wells v Wells; Thomas v Brighton Health Authority; Page v Sheerness Steel Company Limited CA 23-Oct-1996
The plaintiff was a member of a scheme providing permanent health insurance benefits. The issue was whether the insurance monies received by the plaintiff were to be treated as sick pay (and therefore deductible from the damages) or insurance monies . .
Cited – Bradburn v Great Western Rail Co CEC 1874
The plaintiff had received a sum of money from a private insurer to compensate him for lost income as a result of an accident caused by the negligence of the defendant.
Held: He was entitled to full damages as well as the payment from the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Pope v Energem Mining (IOM) Ltd CA 5-Sep-2011
The deceased had been one of several abducted and killed whilst employed by the defendants in Angola. The company had promised to insure his life, but the insurers said that liability under the policy was capped. The claimant, the deceased’s mother . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insurance, Personal Injury
Updated: 15 August 2022; Ref: scu.194899