Is there a distinction between primary and secondary victims?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Kotai v. Queen of the North (Ship), 2009 BCSC 1405 (CanLII):
The distinction between primary and secondary victims was made in Page v. Smith, supra, and has been applied in some decisions of this court. However, it is my view, that the distinction is not supported by Mustapha, supra. In any event, I believe that any distinction between primary and secondary victims that may exist goes to the duty/foreseeability analysis and not to the question of the damages threshold.
The central issue in Page v. Smith was whether in all "nervous shock” cases the plaintiff must prove that injury by “nervous shock” was reasonably foreseeable, or whether if the plaintiff was involved in an accident only reasonable foreseeability of physical injury must be shown.
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