Joint Tort-Feasors, Nervous Shock and Malicious abuse of Legal Process

Two drivers race each other on the Palm Beach Road, and one clips a pedestrian. The pedestrian's mother, watching from her balcony, collapses in shock and is hospitalised for a week. Later a rival files a false police complaint against the pedestrian's brother, and he spends a month in court before being acquitted. Who pays for the pedestrian's injuries when two people caused them? Can the mother, who was never touched, recover anything? And can the brother sue the man who misused the courts against him?

In two minutes

Joint tortfeasors are persons who share in causing one wrong, each liable for the whole damage; nervous shock is recoverable as psychiatric injury where the plaintiff was close in time, space and relationship; malicious prosecution needs a prosecution ended in the plaintiff's favour, no reasonable and probable cause, malice and damage.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law of Torts, Motor Accident Claims and Consumer Protection on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.