Duty of Care Flashcards
How does a duty of care arise?
1) There is already a recognised duty of care established by case law e.g. doctor to patient
2) If there is no recognised duty of care, Caparo is used to establish one
What is the Caparo test?
1) D must have foreseen C may suffer some damage as a result of their negligence
2) There must have been proximity between D and 3) Is it fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty?
What case is relevant to stage 1 of the Caparo test?
Hayley v London Electricity Board
What case is relevant to stage 2 of the Caparo test?
Geary v JD Whetherspoon
What case is relevant to stage 3 of the Caparo test?
XA v YA
What happened in Hayley v London Electricity Board?
C was blind and tripped over a hammer placed by D, C was left totally deaf. D argued it was not foreseeable. HL disagreed and held it was foreseeable someone walking along the pavement would be endangered by the hammer, this extended to blind people.
What is meant by ‘proximity’?
There must be some sort of connection between C and D, this can be geographical, temporal or relational
What is an example of relational proximity?
Donoghue v Stevenson, there would have been relational proximity because a manufacturer has a responsibility for the product consumed by C.
What happened in Geary v JD Whetherspoon?
C slid down a banister in a pub and broke her back. The court held there was no relational proximity between the occupier and entrant, therefore no duty of care arose.
What is the purpose of stage 3 of the Caparo test?
It offers lots of judicial discretion, this allows judges to make decisions in line with public policy.
What happened in XA v YA?
The court held it would be unfair to impose a duty retrospectively on a mother who failed to prevent her son from being assaulted by his father. (C was a 32 year old adult son)
What are the comments relating to XA v YA?
Thirwall notes the importance of assessing the family context, it may not always be possible for a mother to leave the father in domestic abuse situations or for financial reasons.
Case which exhibits the duty of care owed by road users…
Nettleship v Weston
Case which exhibits the duty of care owed by doctors to patients…
Pippin v Sheppard
When is the Caparo test not used?
1) When a duty has already been established
2) Pure economic loss
3) Psychiatric injury
