Report on Damages for Wrongful Death

This report makes a number of recommendations for changes to the law of damages in cases where a person dies as a result of personal injuries.

The main recommendation is that the Damages (Scotland) Act 1976, which has been heavily amended, should be repealed and replaced by a new Act which restates the current law in a clearer and simpler form.

The report also recommends a number of substantive changes to the existing law.

These include: a new method of calculating the damages payable to a victim's family which recognises that the traditional family model of a single breadwinner is declining and that families must be considered as a whole; and limiting the classes of relative who have a claim for damages as a result of a victim's death in order to focus more clearly on the victim's immediate family.The report also recommends several technical changes in relation to the calculation of damages by the courts.

The report does not recommend any change to the law in cases where a person dies of mesothelioma. The Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act 2007 amended the 1976 Act to allow a victim's relatives to seek damages for their grief and suffering after the victim died, even if the victim had already been awarded damages.

The Commission considers that this is appropriate in view of the special features of mesothelioma and that these provisions should be included in the new legislation.

The report includes a draft Bill which would give effect to its recommendations.