Virgin,
It is most certainly not "OTT!" to claim 2 and half years of trauma after such a serious attack. Many victims suffer a lifetime of trauma. For a woman especially facial scarring can cause depression that may actually get worse with time. Sometimes the full effect of an attack can take years to even manifest itself. The physcological needs of the victim may be casually addressed after the event, but will certainly fall on the victims shoulders(financially) in later years when they might actually be required. Private operations for scar reversion treatment dont come cheap either.
Money is needed to pay for treatment and unfortunetaly money is the only form of compensation that is ever on the table. Nothing can adequately undo the damage or turn the clock back.
You are right people are attacked and return to work. Not everybody can though. Again imagine being a woman and having to face the public in a high profile manner with serious scarring. Can you even imagine how that must feel ? Insurance companies get rich selling policies to protect employers from claims from their employees so I wouldn't shed too many tears for them.
Mcrit,
You say the Spanish court "dismissed" her claim for psychological damage". I don't see how that matters. This was a criminal case not a civil damages action. I would not have thought it was the correct forum to bring a claim for civil damages, and even if it was the claimant and the defendant (the employer) are properly in the jurisdiction of the English courts not the Spanish ones.
It is worth not overlooking the fact that legal claims are not automatically guaranteed success. They are usually very long winded and very expensive actions that probably depress the claimant to the point they wondered why they ever started the action. You are right the injury has no relevance to the money but unfortunetaly in our society that is the only measure of compensation.