Decision ID: 000909

In October 1998 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee noted developments in respect of an action by a claimant against the shipowner, P&I insurer and the 1971 Fund for £250 000 for alleged adverse health effects (stress, anxiety and depression) as a result of pollution damage to his livestock, fields and crops. The Committee noted the decision by the Court of Session in Edinburgh that it could not resolve the legal question as to whether psychological symptoms caused by contamination of livestock, fields and crops farmed by the claimant were encompassed within the Acts which implemented the 1969 Civil Liability and 1971 Fund Conventions without having heard evidence as to the facts. It was noted that the shipowner, the insurer and the Fund had appealed against this decision on the basis that claims in respect of symptoms of a psychological nature did not fall within the ambit of damage caused by contamination within the above-mentioned Acts and that claims for psychological damage allegedly caused by the effects of witnessing damage caused by contamination to property were not sufficiently proximate to constitute damage caused by contamination or pollution damage in the terms of the Acts.