Case Cards Flashcards
Grieves v FT Everard & Sons
tort of negligence
- claimants said they had been exposed to asbestos through work
- despite the pleural plaques they formed it was not enough to qualify for negligence because the p.p was benign/didn’t damage lung capacity or ability to work
- did not amount to damages and claim was rejected
Dryden v Johnson Matthey
tort of negligence
- the claimants were exposed to platinum due to their work and developed platinum sensitisation
- the company negligently did not do enough to ensure the claimant’s safety and were in breach of their duty of care
- platinum sensitisation means the claimant can no longer work with salts and renders him unable to work in this industry (economic loss)
Donoghue v Stevenson
tort of negligence
- May D found snail in bottle of ginger beer she received in cafe
- the manufacturer was under a legal duty to the consumer to make sure article is free from defects that could cause death
- they were in breach of this duty
- first case in which it was shown that you can be negligent through careless and indirect acts rather than only direct/intentional
Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police
tort of negligence
- Robinson (76) knocked over by police officer and drug dealer they were trying to arrest
- during struggle the druggie backed into her and all 3 fell on her
- supreme court believed that police are under duty of care to avoid causing injuries to R
- officers negligently didn’t notice her even though she was in plain sight and were in breach of their duty of care to protect her
Bowen v Commissioner of Police
novel duty case
- 4 police officers arrested suspected terrorist, BA
- BA claims officers assaulted/injured him during arrest
- commissioner admitted liability and apologised for officer’s violence
- officers took commissioner to court and claimed press release caused repetitional/economic damage
- claimed commissioner had a duty of care to protect their economic/professional welfare
- commissioner appealed to supreme court who said it wasn’t fair to impose a duty of care on an employer to protect legal proceedings as parties should be able to use litigation to solve disputes without fear of being liable to third parties
Harvey v Facey (1893)
not an offer- contract
C telegraphed D ‘Will you sell us Bumper Hall Pen? Telegraph lowest cash price’. D replied, ‘Lowest price for Bumper Hall Pen £900’. C then telegraphed his agreement to buy at that price. D did not respond. Held (PC): no contract. D’s reply was merely a response to a request for information and not an offer. C’s agreement to buy was therefore an offer which D had not accepted
Granger & Sons v Gough (1896) (catalogue-contract)
- is catalogue circulated by seller an offer or invitation to treat?
- HoL said catalogue was invitation to treat, orders placed by customers were offers which merchant could accept/reject.
- HoL felt that if catalogues were seen as offers and orders were acceptances if orders were received in excess and merchant had excess demand they could end up in breach of contract because they didn’t have enough supply
Patridge v Crittenden (1968)
advert-contract
- advert of goods for sale
- bird for sale at stated price but it was criminal offence to put live bird up for sale
- courts relied on the analysis of HoL in Granger case
- This means advert was seen as invitation to treat
Carlil v Carbolic smoke company (1893) (advert-contract)
- company posted advert that advertised carbolic smoke ball
- company said you wouldn’t catch influenza if you used it and if you did they would pay 100 pounds reward
- company refused to pay carlil when she caught decease
- company claimed there was no contract and advert was invitation to treat and if purchasing the device was offer they didn’t accept
- court dismissed this as advert was an offer that Carlil accepted by meeting terms
- the company was in breach and had to pay her
Harris v Nickerson (1873)
advertisment-contract
advertisement in a newspaper that certain office furniture will be sold by auction at specified place; C reads this advertisement and attends the auction to buy the furniture, but it was withdrawn from the sale. C sued for wasted expenses. CA: no contract until bid accepted. Advertisement was a mere declaration of intent.
Lefkowitz v Great Minneapolis Surplus Stores (1957) (advertisement-contract)
D places an advertisement in newspaper on April 6: ‘Sat. 9 a.m. sharp; 3 Brand new fur coats, worth to $100, First come first served, $1 each’. On April 13, D places a similar advertisement in the same newspaper. Each relevant Saturday, C is the first person to respond to the advertisement at the store. D refuses to sell on each occasion. C sues D for breach of contract. Held: advertisement will be an offer where ‘clear, definite, and explicit, and leaves nothing open for negotiation’; contract.
Scammel v Ouston (1941)
unclear wording-contract
- understanding made based on the terms that one party can pay a ‘hire purchase’
- ‘hire purchase’ is too vague
- HoL said it was too vague and court cannot provide details /impose terms on parties
- contract failed for ‘fatal ambiguity’
Walford v Miles (1992)
how long did the party have to carry on negotiations
- preliminary agreement with no fixed duration as the parties neglected to put a time limit
- courts decided there was only an agreement to agree
- no certainty/completeness
- no legal enforceability
Hilas v Arcos (1932)
- parties entered into agreemnt in timber trade with ‘fair specification’
- courts believed that fair specification meant the quality of goods that had to be supplied
- by fair specification they meant an objectively reasonable selection which the parties could decide for themselves with the help of the court
- it was not an agreement to agree
Trentham Ltd v Archital Luxfer ltd (1992) (significance of performance)
goes in favour of upholding contract if parties have been engaging with the contract for a while and one of the parties alleges that it is void
Foley v Classique coaches ltd (1934) (courts overreaching)
- contract for sale of land being sold by the claimant to defendant so they can use land for their coach business
- contract for sale is tied to 2nd contract where defendant promised to buy petrol from claimant exclusively
- claimant had to supply all petrol the defendant needed and the price would be determined by the parties from time to time
- after 3 yrs defendant said contract was void due to incompleteness cause of price term
- court held that contract was binding because it was a long term contract and the price of petrol could change so to agree on price from time to time was reasonable
- according to sub 1 contract doesn’t work but the courts applied sub 2 and decided the parties should reach a reasonable price between themselves
- the contract did not explicitly have a ‘reasonable price’ default but the court argued that it was implicit
- in my opinion they crossed the line by implying something that wasn’t there and they just didn’t want to let the defendant out of the contract because of the price because of how long he had sustained the contract
Day Morris Associates v Voyce (2003) (unequivocal conduct)
- claimant submitted draft contract to buy coal from defendant and left details for D to fill in
- D filled it in and returned it to C marked approved
- in submitting draft contract the C was submitting an offer but as the D added more terms C did not unequivocally accept
- C put it in his drawer and nothing was done by parties for 2 years
- coal was delivered to C from D and it was accepted
- HoL said there was a contract as defendant and claimant were still fulfilling their roles in their contract
British road services v Arthur Crutchley Ltd (1968)
- negotiations for a contract for the storage of whiskey by the defendant
- C driver handed D a delivery note that stated C conditions were incorporated into contract
- D took note and stamped it recieved under his own conditions
- C driver gave whiskey to D to put in storage
- when C driver gave whiskey to D that was an offer
- D’s stamp on his own condition rejects C’s offer and suggests a counter offer
- C driver handing whiskey to D can be seen as acceptance through conduct
Rust v Abbey Life insurance co(1979) (silence merging with conduct)
- claimant sold hotel business and got 90,000
- she invested it in property bond
- C was allocated a bond and retained it without objection for 7 months
- C wanted to return bond and claim her money back
- C.A held that C couldn’t because there was a binding contract
- C.A said when she sent in form to apply for bond that was an offer that company accepted by sending her the bond
- she accepted it through conduct
The Leonidas D (1985) (silence)
- arbitration proceedings commenced and nothing was done to advance for 5 years
- argued that this gave rise to contract (abandoning proceedings)
- the failure to say or do anything for five years as an offer to abandon proceedings was met with silence which accepted the offer
- court said silence was too ambiguous as it can easily be argued the other way
Adams v Lindsell (1818) (PAR)
-the sited authority for existence of PAR
Quenerduaine v Cole (1883) (PAR as permitted mode of acceptance)
-PAR cannot be relevant unless the post is a permissable method of acceptance
Holwell Securities v Hughes (1974)
- offer required acceptance by ‘notice in writing to the intending vendor’
- offeree posted letter of acceptance and it got lost in the post
- there was no binding contract
- notice means that you tell the other party
- C.A said the contract required the written acceptance to get through to offeror
- it excluded PAR
Butler machine tool co ltd v ExCellOCorp (1970) (battle of the forms)
- seller wants to conclude contract on its standard terms and buyer wants the same
- buyer places an offer on their terms and included a tear-off slip which said the contract would be on their terms
- the seller signed the slip along with an acknowledgement of their own original offer
- court found that the buyer’s offer was no an acceptance of original offer from seller but was a counter offer which the seller accepted by signing the tear-off slip
Tienhoven (1880)
- D started communication by posting offer but had a change of heart and posted a revocation a few days later
- C recieved offer and immediately sent telegram to accept it
- PAR was effective and there was immediate acceptance
- revocation did not work cause it must be sent before contract is concluded
Errington v Errington (1952)
attempt at revoke contract
- father bought house for son/daughter in law to live and he would pay lump son with the rest financed by the mortgage
- F promised if S/d paid off mortgage he would transfer the house to them
- father died and son/daughter in law separated
- D continued to live in the house and pay mortgage installments
- F’s wife tried to evict D but C.A said D was entitled to live there as long as she kept paying instalments
- C.A said there was a unilateral contract as F promised for so long as they continued to pay installments they could live there and that was binding
- mother could not revoke the offer
Nettleship v Weston (1972)
duty of care
- learner driver (Weston) was taking lessons from husaband’s friend when she crashed into local lampost
- learner driver was meant to meet a standard that they couldn’t possibly be expected to meet
- they are in breach but they are not at fault or should be blamed they just fell below the standard of care that a driver on the road reasonably should have
Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks Co. (1856)
negligence is ‘the omission to do something which the reasonable man, guided upon whose considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do’
McHale v Watson (1956)
children’s standard of care
- decided by supreme court of AU
- principle of reasonable child is stripped of any personality traits and are compared to a reasonable child their own age
Mulin v Richards (1998) (children’s standard of care)
- two 15 yr old girls fighting with rulers and one injures the other
- girls are judged against reasonable 15 year olds and not adults
McErlean v Sarel (canada) (children and adult activities)
-when a child engages in adult activity they’re held to same standard as a reasonable adult
Dellwo v Pearson (1961, America) (children and adult activities)
unfair to public to allow minor driving a car to have any other standard of care different to adult in the same situation because they are putting people at risk
Carmarthenshire county council v Lewis (1995) (parental liability)
- school failed to supervise children on playground and one of them escaped and caused a road traffic accident
- school was liable to control/supervise/provide boundaries for kids to play in
Ellis v Kelly (2018) (parental liability)
- parent lets child play outside without supervision and the child gets injured
- child sues the driver and the driver sues contribution from the parent
- parent was held to not be liable cause they taught their child about road safety and had met the minimum standard of a reasonable parent
Wough v Allen (incapacity)
- lorry driver felt ill and after feeling a bit better he continued to drive then died at the wheel of a heart attack
- man who had a heart attack didn’t know his illness made him unsafe to drive so he wasn’t negligent
Mansfied v Weetabix (1998) (incapacity)
- if you are unaware of an incapacity to drive you have the standard of care of a competent driver who is unaware of their condition
- he had imperfect control and wasn’t liable
- in other cases like Ramsbottom if you have a little imperfect control you are held to reasonable man standard
Spearman v Royal United bath (mental incapacity)
-person staying at hospital injured themselves but were not liable because that would penalize them for their mental state
Campbell v Advantage Insurance Company (self-induced intoxication)
- if your incapacity is caused by self induced intoxication you will be liable for contributory negligence
- you have the capacity during the consumption of alchohol which is when you are acting without appropriate care for yourself
Bolton v Stone (1951) (foreseeability)
-‘where the risk is really low and so small you don’t take it into account you’re not going to take precautions to stop it’
Tomlinson (2004)
- person injured while swimming in a lake
- Lord Hoffman said people won’t take preventative measures that will prevent socially useful activities
Victorian Railway commissioners v coultas (1888) (historical development of duty of care in shock)
Australian privy council decided there was no duty of care owed to a claimant who’d been scared and traumatised by the D failing to control the level crossing gates properly
-no duty of care because it wasn’t forseeable passengers would suffer shock and there was no physical injury
Dulieu v White (1901) (duty of care in shock)
- barmaid stood behind bar when horse and cart negligently crashed into bar
- almost hit barmaid and she went into labour due to shock
- courts said she could claim for physical injury due to fear for injury for oneself
- courts begin to develop rule that if you’re in fear of injury to yourself you can have claim if your injury is forseeable
Hambrook v Stokes (1925) ( duty of care in shock)
- coal lorry left negligently on top of hill because driver didn’t apply brakes properly
- woman sees lorry rolling down and her kids down the hill
- woman was told someone matching child’s description was injured
- she suffers miscarriage and dies
- she can claim for shock that results from fear she suffers when she thinks her daughter’s been injured
- she fears for her child
Bourhill v Young (1943) (duty of care in shock)
- no claim because you don’t see traumatic event and you don’t know the person involved
- B gets off tram and can hear motorcycle crash up the road
- B walks across road and sees Y’s dead body and she had a miscarriage
- it is not forseeable that B would be affected as she did not know Y or see the accident occur
- she was not physically in danger and didn’t know Y
- NO duty of care
McFarlane v Wilkinson (secondary victim of shock)
- alpha oil rig disaster
- he was on a boat 100 metres away
- courts held he would have been primary victim if he reasonably feared he was in the danger zone but he was a secondary victim because he was not nearly close enough
Weddle v Glasgow (2019) (secondary victim of shock)
- bin lorry went out of control and killed many because driver was having a heart attack and company negligently let him drive
- W claims psychiatric injury for being exposed/seeing this
- lorry was 12 metres from where she was standing and she wasn’t hit/wasn’t at risk
- courts decides she wasn’t primary victim as she could have never reasonably believed she was at risk
- she was secondary victim and couldn’t claim recovery
Page v Smith (1996) Primary victim rule
- C and D involved in car accident where C isn’t phsyically injured but suffers revival of pre-existing condition which makes him unable to work in the future
- duty owed because it was reasonably forseeable that the claimant would suffer personal injury in car accident
- doesn’t matter whether the injury is physical or induced by shock
- D owed duty because they could have forseeably prevented C’s injury
- when you are a primary victim it doesn’t matter WHY you suffer psychiatric injury