Page v Smith [1996] 1 AC 155 House of Lords


The claimant had suffered from ME over a period of time and was in recovery when he was involved in a minor car accident due to the defendant's negligence. The claimant was not physically injured in the collision but the incident triggered his ME and had become chronic and permanent so that he was unable to return to his job as a teacher. He was successful at his trial and awarded £162,000 in damages.

Held:

Provided some kind of personal injury was foreseeable it did not matter whether the injury was physical or psychiatric. There was thus no need to establish that psychiatric injury was foreseeable. Also the fact that an ordinary person would not have suffered the injury incurred by the claimant was irrelevant as the defendant must take his victim as he finds him under the thin skull rule.

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