Duty of Care Flashcards
Donoghue v Stevenson
Atkin dictum: love your neighbour. In law your neighbour is somebody who you ought reasonably to have contemplated as being affected.
Concept of forseeability and proximity to establish a duty of care.
Caparo v Dickman
Step 1: look at precedent
Step 2: is there sufficient forseeability and proximity
Step 3: fair, just, reasonable that the law should impose duty upon one party for others benefit
- No general duty to prevent pure economic loss
- commercial context - fair, just, reasonable to expect pursuers to engage own professional advisors
Bourhill v Young
- pregnant fishwife
- forseeability dependent on circumstances
- here, not forseeable that someone in Mrs B’s situation would have been affected
- outwith range of proximity
Hines
- fire-alarm in office building
- duty placed on managing agents of building
- sufficient proximity between tenants and agents
- forseeable that actions had bearing on property interests
Mitchell v Glasgow City Council
- murder of next door neighbour
- not fair, just, reasonable to impose duty of council
- they have landlord duties for large popn. of tenants
- only in some circumstances can 3rd party harm be actionable
- no breach of art 2 - council do not have resources to prevent such crime
“Nicholas H”
- not fair, just, reasonable to pin liability on classification society of ship
- already complex insurance structure in place
Maloco v Littlewoods
- fire damaged neighbouring proprietors
- whilst third party prevention is recognised, it was not found here
- littlewoods not liable for third party actions
- impossible to know who the third party was
Thomson v Scottish Ministers
- pursuers daughter murdered by prisoner on short term release
- prison service obliged to give short release
- nothing distinct or special about this case to displace general rule on 3rd parties
Home Office v Dorset Yacht
- home office had special duty of supervision
- damage was forseeable
- duty imposed
Carmarthenshire CC v Lewis
- duty of close supervision of 4yr old breached (caused collision running onto road)
- duty of care established
Kazier v Scottish Ministers
- prisoner assault
- prison had duty to supervise prisoners in gym
Barret v MoD
- affixiated own vomit
- once officers had taken man into their care they had assumed responsibility to assume charge
“Opogo”
- duty to rescue?
- no obligation or absolute duty to rescue
- owner not liable as he had attempted to rescue
Spartan Steel v Martin
- negligent cutting of electricity
- pure economic loss of profits of steel not yet in process was non recoverable
Dynamco
- cannot recover for profits unless loss arose from direct damage
- electricty service covers too many people here
Leigh v Sillavan
- no negligence here
- party must own property at time of damage occuring