Lu's last line hits the nail on the head.
Shuttleworth's response is too stupid to merit a reply.
A&C
I can understand your reaction, but think it through for a moment.
Suppose that personally, I think bereaved families should not be entitled to compensation/damages for that aspect, but professionally, I know the widow and children I'm representing are entitled to them.
What do you think I should do? Try to get the most I can for them, or not tell them?
Often, they've lost the main bread-winner for the family, but the cost of bringing up the children hasn't gone away.
I'm not saying I necessarily agree with damages for that aspect, but consider the alternative argument: People are entitled, in certain circumstances, to damages for trauma they have suffered. The damages you mention are not intended to compensate the deceased - he/she is dead and can't be compensated - but to compensate the bereaved families for the trauma they have suffered by going over and over what their loved ones must have been going through in those moments.
Haven't you experienced bereaved families saying things like 'When I think of what he must have been going through in the last moments ......' and then collapsing into floods of tears? That is trauma.
Or, in different circumstances, saying 'At least it was quick. I couldn't bear the thought of him knowing that he was about to die." ie They couldn't bear the trauma.
There are two sides to the argument.
Re the "extra distress that bringing this up in court must bring to the loved ones of the victims". That is their free choice. All I can say is I've never once in my entire career known a single client who has said they'd rather forego extra damages than have a particular aspect brought up.
I saw part of the programme. Most of the lawyers were specialists in this field, some are very well known for getting high awards for their clients. Ask yourself why their clients go to them?
Sometimes, holding a company/body to account is more important to the bereaved families than getting compensation, but those cases are a small minority in my experience. People usually either want, or need money and that's why they sue for damages.