Is the Smith case a step forward for the rights of cohabitees?

The inability of long term cohabitees to claim the bereavement award in personal injury cases is incompatible with their human rights: this was the recent finding of the Court of Appeal in Smith (suing in her own right and as the surviving partner of John Bulloch, deceased) v Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and others [2017] EWCA Civ 1916.

What is the bereavement award?

The bereavement award is a statutory sum of £12,980 payable by a defendant in cases where a person is wrongfully killed by someone else’s negligence. It is provided for by the Fatal Accidents Act 1976. Historically, it applied only to husbands and wives on the death of their spouse or parents on the death of their child. In 2004 Parliament extended the scope to civil partners. In 2009 the Government tabled an amendment which would have added cohabiting couples, who had lived together for two years or more, but this was shelved.

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