Henry Morton Jack discusses fatal accidents abroad
The Supreme Court recently handed down judgment in Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG (formerly known as Victoria) [2014] UKSC 22, [2014] All ER (D) 16 (Apr) on a number of preliminary issues. The judgment concerns the law applicable to the assessment of damages suffered by dependants of a person killed in an accident abroad.
The questions for the Supreme Court to consider were firstly whether English or German Law applied to that assessment and secondly, if English law did apply, whether damages were governed by the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (FAA 1976).
The Supreme Court held that the appellant’s right to damages arose under German law but that such damages were to be assessed in accordance with English law, excluding the provisions of FAA 1976.
The facts
The appeal arose out of a fatal road traffic accident in Germany on 21 May 2004. The appellant’s husband, Major Christopher Cox, a British national serving with Her Majesty’s Forces in Germany, was riding his bicycle on the verge of a road when a motor vehicle driven
