Breach Flashcards
When will D have breached a DoC to C?
- ) How will D ought to have behaved in the circumstances - what was the required standard of care?
- ) How did D behave? Did they fall below the standard of care?
Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks Co
Facts: • Water company laying down pipes in accordance with parliament
• Precautions proved insufficient against effects of cold water in which no man could have foreseen
Judgment: Claim failed
L.P: • would the reasonable man have acted in such a way?
• standard of care test
Nettleship v Weston
Facts: • C was giving D driving lessons
• Car was travelling at a walking pace but crashed
• C suffered a broken knee-cap
• D was convicted of driving without due care and attention
Judgement: Claim allowed
L.P: •Standard of care for learner driver same as a regular driver
• case to use for established duty of car drivers
Bolton v Stone
Facts: • D was playing cricket on a ground near houses
• C was in one of the houses and was hit by a ball that came from the grounds
• Many balls had been hit over the fence over the years
Judgment: Claim failed
L.P: • Too remote
• not for a man to account for every foreseeable risk but only the reasonably foreseeable risks
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee
Facts: • C was being treated with ECT
• D decided not to give P the relaxant drug or restrain him
• During ECT C fractured hip
• C claimed damages for not administering drug or explaining risks
Judgment: Claim failed
L.P: • Doctor acted in accordance with accepted medical practice at that time - recognised by a reasonable body of medical opinion
• Doctor had not fallen below SoC if acting in practice that is recognised by a competent body of medical opinion
Bolithio v City and Hackney Health Authority
Facts: • C suffered breathing problems and tried to summon a doctor
• Doctor did not attend and child collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest
• Child recovered from cardiac arrest but suffered brain damage
• C claimed child should have been intubated
•D claimed even if doctor had attended, she wouldn’t have intubated the child
Judgment:
L.P: • Adaptation of Bolam:
- ) Has the Doctor acted in accordance with a practice accepted by a respectable body of medical opinion?
- ) if yes, is the practice reasonable and logical?
Phillips v Whitely
Facts: • C got a jeweller to pierce ears
• Ear became infected, C claimed damages
Judgment: Claim failed
L.P: •Jeweller not held to same standard of care as a surgeon
Paris v Stepney Borough Council
- Gravity of harm
Facts: • a garage hand was working on something when he struck a piece of metal and something flew into his eye
• subsequently lost vision in that eye
• became fully blind because his other eye was already dysfunctional
Judgment: claim succeeded
L.P: •Goggles should have been supplied to all workers but especially to one eyed one because it was known if he lost that one he’d be blind
Blake v Galloway
Facts: • C and D were teenagers playing a game of throwing bark at each other
• D threw one bit of bark that caused significant damage to C
Judgment: Claim failed
L.P: • The reasonable child is held to a lower SoC
