159 / 462
g a z e t t e
april 1991
The role of the actuary in the
assessment of damages in personal
and fatal injury claims
(presented to the Society of Actuaries in Ireland 1st November, 1990)
1. INTRODUCTION
As far as I can ascertain, only
one paper on this topic has
been
presented.tothe Society
and this was in March 1974
when Piers Segrave-Daly gave
his paper on
Problems in
Valuing Death and Injury
Claims.'
1
I shall refer to this
paper again later on.
There have not been many
papers on the subject in the
United Kingdom either. My
researches have thrown up:-
- Actuarial Assessment of
Damages
2
which was
written by J H Prevett
- The Actuary in Damages
Cases - Expert Witness
or Court Astrologer?
3
by
Robert Owen and Philip
Shier presented to the
Institute of Actuaries
Student Society in March
1985.
A paper,
Compensation for
Personal Injury
4
was pre-
sented to the Institute in
March 1980 but this paper
dealt mainly with the Pearson
Report. More recently, a paper
Worktime lost through Sick-
ness, Unemployment
and
Stoppages: Measurement and
Application
5
was presented
to the Institute in April 1990.
This last paper I shall refer to
again.
The attitude to actuarial
evidence in this country is
vastly different from that in
the United Kingdom. The
attitude in the United Kingdom
is summed up for me in the
"The attitude to actuarial
evidence in this country is
vastly different from that in
the United Kingdom."
Judgement in the Court of
Appeal in 1984 in
Auty &
Others -v- National Coal Board
where Lord Justice Oliver
stated that
" . . . as a method
of
providing a reliable guide to
individual behaviour patterns
or to future economic and
political events, the predict-
ions of an actuary could be
only a little more likely to be
accurate (and were almost
certainly less entertaining)
than those of an astrologer"
([1985] All ER 930, 939,
CA).
by
R. P. Delany, FIA
2. DAMAGES
In his judgment in the
Supreme Court appeal of the
personal injuries case
Reddy -
v- Bates
[1983] IR 141, [1984]
ILRM 197, SC, Mr. Justice
McCarthy said that
"The conventional descript-
ion of damages awarded for
personal injuries sustained
through the tortious act of
another is to ask the jury to
award such sum as will, so
far as money can do so, put
the Plaintiff in the same
position as he or she would
have been if the tortious act
had not occurred" ([
1983] IR
141, 150, [1984] ILRM 197,
204).
In the House of Lords in
1969 in giving judgment in the
appeal of the fatal accident
case
Mallett -v- McMonagle,
[1970] AC 166, [1969] 2 All ER
178, HL, Lord Diplock said that
"the purpose of an award of
damages under the Fatal
Accidents Act is to provide
the widow
and other
dependants of the deceased
with a capital sum which
with prudent management
would be sufficient
to
supply them with material
benefits
of the same
standard and duration as
would have been provided
for them out of the earnings
of the Deceased had he not
been killed by the tortious
act of the defendant, credit
being given for the value of
any material benefits which
will accrue to them, (other-
wise then as the fruits of in-
surance) as a result of his
death".
The Civil Liability Act, 1961,
is the basis, as I understand it,
for claims in this country for
damages in personal injury and
fatal accident cases. In a
personal injury claim damages
are usually sought under four
headings. Past and future
special damages, and past and
future general damages.
Special damages are in
respect of monetary loss and
general damages are for the
pain and suffering experi-
enced, or to be experi-
enced.
In fatal claims damages are
sought and awarded under
three headings:
- Financial loss
- Mental distress
- Funeral and other ex-
penses
Actuarial involvement is in
respect of future loss of income
and/or expenses in a personal
injury claim and for financial
loss in a fatal case.
Section 50 of the Civil
Liability Act, 1961 states that in
assessing damages account
shall not be taken of:-
(a) any sum payable on the
death of the deceased
141