15

 

 

Third Session, 46th General Assembly

59 Elizabeth II, 2010

BILL 15

AN ACT TO AMEND THE FATAL ACCIDENTS ACT

Received and Read the First Time...................................................................................................

Second Reading.................................................................................................................................

Committee............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading.....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE FELIX COLLINS

Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Ordered to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

  

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Bill would amend the Fatal Accidents Act to allow for the award of damages for the loss of care, guidance and companionship. 

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE FATAL
ACCIDENTS ACT

Analysis


        1.   S.6 R&S
Damages

 


Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cF-6
as amended

        1. Section 6 of the Fatal Accidents Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Damages

        6. (1) In an action brought under this Act the court may award the damages it considers proportional to the injury resulting from the death to the parties for whose benefit the action was brought, and the amount  so recovered shall be divided among those parties in the shares that the court directs.

             (2)  The damages awarded under subsection (1) may include an amount to compensate for the loss of care, guidance and companionship that a person for whose benefit the action is brought might reasonably have expected to receive from the deceased if the death had not occurred.

             (3)  Where the defendant is advised to pay money into court, the defendant may pay in compensation a lump sum to all persons entitled under this Act for his or her wrongful act, neglect or default, without specifying the shares into which it is to be divided by the court.

             (4)  Where the sum is not accepted and an issue is taken by the plaintiff as to its sufficiency, and the court considers it sufficient, the defendant shall be entitled to a judgment on that issue.

             (5)  One action only may be taken for and in respect of the same subject matter of a complaint.