Damage

Question 1

what 4 things are considered for damage and what are the cases associated with them

Answer 1

1) factual causation ‘ Barnett v Chelsea MC)
2) Intervening Acts (Knightley v John)
3) thin skull rule (Smith v Leech Brain)
4) remoteness of damage (Doughty v Turner Manufacturing Company)

Question 2

what is meant by factual causation

Answer 2

the but for test is used ‘ but for the defendants breach of duty, would the damage or injury have occurred’

Question 3

what is meant by intervening acts

Answer 3

if the situation is worsened by something serious and separate from D’s actions they are not liable

Question 4

what is meant by the thin skull rule

Answer 4

D must take victim as they find them

Question 5

what is meant by remoteness of damage

Answer 5

C must prove that the specific type of damage suffered was reasonably foreseeable

Question 6

what happens in Barnett v Chelsea MC

Answer 6

night watchmen drink tea and call doctor who tells them not to go to hospital; they die of arsenic but couldn’t have been saved anyway

Question 7

what happened in Knightly v Johns

Answer 7

D causes car crash, police arrive but don’t close off the tunnel so C sent down to close tunnel and enters a second crash, D not liable due to police

Question 8

what happened in Smith v Leechbrain

Answer 8

C struck on lip by piece of molten metal with precancerous skin; died of cancer triggered by the burn so liable

Question 9

what happened in Doughty v Turner Manufacturing Company

Answer 9

asbestos mod knocked into molten liquid and explosion occurred; C suffered burns but reaction was unknown so not foreseeable or liable