Fatal Accident Claims and Applicable Law of the Tort: Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG [2014] UKSC 22 - Matthew Chapman, 1 Chancery Lane
20/06/14. The claim arose out of fatal road traffic accident in Germany on 16 March 2004 in which the Appellant’s husband was tragically killed after being hit by a car whilst riding his bicycle. The driver of the car was German and was insured by the Respondent, a German insurance company, which admitted liability at an early stage. This was an Odenbreit-style claim brought, as German law permitted, directly against the relevant (foreign) motor insurer in the English Court. The issues to be determined on the appeal to the Supreme Court concerned only the assessment of damages, namely (1) whether English or German Law applied to that assessment and (2) if English law applied, whether damages were governed by the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, or some other basis.
These questions were of importance as, by contrast with the German law position, the provisions of the 1976 Act do not require credit to be given in the assessment of damages for maintenance payments received by a claimant widow from a current partner. The value of the claim assessed on the basis of the English statute would...
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