Whether a person can recover compensation for emotional trauma unaccompanied by physical injury, including derivative losses stemming from injuries to family members?

 13.6 In the context of the United States, the most important piece of legal literature regarding ‘pain and suffering’ is an article titled Valuing Life and Limb in Tort : Scheduling Pain and Suffering, published in the year 1989. Relevant extracts thereof read as under:

“Pain and suffering and other intangible or non-economic losses are even more problematic. Physical pain and attendant suffering have for centuries being recognised as legitimate elements of damages, and “modern” tort law has seen a marked expansion of the rights to recover for forms of mental anguish. Some Courts have even permitted recovery for emotional trauma unaccompanied by physical injury, including derivative losses stemming from injuries to family members. The precise elements of compensable non-economic loss vary by jurisdiction. Pain and suffering may be used as a catch-all category for the jury's consideration of all non-pecuniary losses in a case of a non-fatal injury, subsuming other qualitative categories such as mental anguish and humiliation. More commonly, though, other non-economic elements - such as “loss of enjoyment of life” are accorded independent standing …”

In the Supreme Court of India

(Before C.T. Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol, JJ.)

K.S. Muralidhar Vs  R. Subbulakshmi and Another 

Civil Appeal No(s). 12993/2024 (Arising out of SLP(C) No. 18337/2021)

Decided on November 22, 2024

Citation: 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3385,2024 INSC 886.

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