CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) (Appellant) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Respondent)
By Oliver White, Underwriter
Estimate read time 4 minutes 33 seconds
This case concerns “lost years damages”, which are damages for inability to work during years of expected life lost as a result of negligence.
CCC suffered a severe brain hypoxia during her birth, reducing her life expectancy to 29 years. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ran the hospital where she was born, and accepted liability. They accepted her life expectancy and that she would have worked until age 68, they also agreed on loss of earnings to age 29 of £160,000. The remaining question was lost years damages.
The case of Pickett v British Rail Engineering Ltd [1980] AC 136 and Gammel v Wilson [1982] established that lost years damages are recoverable and Gammell v Wilson [1982] AC 27 confirmed this. In the case of Croke v Wiseman [1982] 1 WLR 71, it was held that lost years damages cannot be recovered in the case where the claimant is a young child.
Both parties agreed that the trial judge was bound by Croke, but the trial judge granted a leap-frog certificate, so CCC could appeal to the Supreme Court.
Therefore, the issue for the Supreme Court, was to determine the correctness of Croke. This was a decision based on the fact that a young child would not have descendants. The Court stated that “There is no reason of legal principle why a claimant’s ability to obtain an award in respect of his own pecuniary losses should depend on the existence of dependants. The claim for lost years is in respect of the claimant’s own loss, not in respect of anyone else’s and his or her right to damages is not in any way dependent on how they might be used.”
In Ratcliffe v Evans [1892] 2 QB, Bowen LJ said that difficulty of assessment is no reason for awarding no damages or nominal damages, which has been reaffirmed more recently. Therefore, the Supreme Court held that “where it is clear that the claimant has suffered substantial loss … but the evidence does not enable it to be precisely quantified, the court must assess damages as best it can…”.
Lord Reed states that “… the approach adopted by Lord Denning MR in Croke v Wiseman to claims for list lifetime earnings, and pecuniary losses during the lost years, brought by claimants who have been injured as children, cannot be accepted.”
With regards to calculating the lost years damages, Lord Reed acknowledges the approach taken in this case, where the parties could make an agreement about the education qualifications CCC would have obtained but for her injuries, the type of employment she would have entered, the age she would have retired at, and the fact she would have received a pension from the date of her retirement until her death. This was based on evidence available, including her family background.
The Temple Perspective
This is huge judgement which will have far reaching implications for cases concerning children who have suffered negligence. Quantum in these cases will inevitably increase as a result of this decision, but so will total disbursements. More work will be required to quantify losses for child claimants, as detailed statistical analysis will be needed to determine the potential future career paths, and earnings. However, the additional work needed does is not as important as the fact that child claimants will now be entitled to damages that better reflect the extent of their loss.
If you would like to discuss any of the details raised in this judgment , please call Oliver on 01483 514870 or send an email to
Oliver White
Underwriter
Oliver White
Oliver is an Underwriter who joined Temple in 2022 as an Underwriting Support Assistant. He became a Trainee Underwriter in September 2023 and completed his training in August 2024. Oliver holds an LLB in Law from the University of Exeter, having graduated in 2020. His legal background equips him with a strong understanding of the legal issues relevant to cases referred to Temple, enabling him to make efficient and accurate underwriting decisions.
Oliver works across both the Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury and Commercial teams, reviewing referred cases and determining coverage. He also manages delegated authority schemes, acting as the primary point of contact for these firms and ensuring that Temple continues to meet their ATE insurance needs.
In 2024, Oliver took leadership of the Northern Ireland project, taking on full responsibility for its management and direction.
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