Third

Session, 46th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2010

BILL 15

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

FATAL ACCIDENTS ACT

Received and Read the First Time ...................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE

FELIX COLLINS

Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Bill would amend the Fatal Accidents Act to allow for the

award of damages for the loss of care, guidance and companionship.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE FATAL

ACCIDENTS ACT

Analysis

S.6 R&S

Damages

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cF-6

as amended

Section 6 of the Fatal Accidents Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Damages

(1) In

an action brought under this Act the court may award the damages it considers

proportional to the injury resulting from the death to the parties for whose

benefit the action was brought, and the amount so recovered shall be divided among those

parties in the shares that the court directs.

(2) The damages awarded under subsection (1) may

include an amount to compensate for the loss of care, guidance and companionship

that a person for whose benefit the action is brought might reasonably have

expected to receive from the deceased if the death had not occurred.

(3) Where the defendant is advised to pay money

into court, the defendant may pay in compensation a lump sum to all persons

entitled under this Act for his or her wrongful act, neglect or default,

without specifying the shares into which it is to be divided by the court.

(4) Where the sum is not accepted and an issue is

taken by the plaintiff as to its sufficiency, and the court considers it

sufficient, the defendant shall be entitled to a judgment on that issue.

(5) One action only may be taken for and in

respect of the same subject matter of a complaint.

Earl G. Tucker,

Queen's Printer