Liability In Negligence

Question 1

What types of harm does negligence protect against

Answer 1

Personal injury
Damage to property
Economic loss

Question 2

What are the elements of negligence

Answer 2

1.Defendant owes the claimant a duty of care
2. Defendant was in breach of that duty of care
3. Claimant suffered damage as a result of the breach and the damage was not too remote

Question 3

Element 1
What case was the tort of negligence developed through

Answer 3

Donoghue v Stevenson 1932

Question 4

What happened in Donoghue v Stevenson 1932

Answer 4

Mrs D friend bought ginger beer for her in a cafe.
Drank some
Decomposing snail
Suffered gastroenteritis
Mrs D could sue cafe- she didn’t buy it
Brought action against manufacturer
HOL- established neighbour principle
Lord Atkin- manufactures owed duty of care
Mrs D claim succeeded

Question 5

What case was the neighbour principle redefined in

Answer 5

Caparo industries plc v Dickman 1990

Question 6

What are the caparo test elements

Answer 6

Foreseeability
Proximity
It is just fair and reasonable to impose a duty of care

Question 7

What is meant by foreseeability

Answer 7

It must be reasonably foreseeable that damage or injury would be caused to the particular defendant or to a class of people to which they belong

Question 8

What is the case example for foreseeability and what happened

Answer 8

Kent v Griffiths 2000
Doctor called ambulance to take patient suffering with asthma attack to hospital
Ambulance failed to arrive in reasonable time
No good reason for delay
Patient suffered heart attack
Not have happened if ambulance had arrived in time
Held reasonably foreseeable that the claimant would suffer some harm from this delay

Question 9

What is meant by proximity

Answer 9

Means closeness in terms of physical space, time or relationship
If there is not a sufficiently proximate relationship between claimant and defendant the defendant cannot reasonably be expected to have the claimant in mind.

Question 10

What is meant by it is just fair and reasonable to impose a duty of care

Answer 10

Known as policy test- judges are able to limit the extent of the tort through judicial discretion

Question 11

What is a case example of it is just fair and reasonable to impose a duty of care

Answer 11

Hill v Chief constable of West Yorkshire 1988
Family victim of Yorkshire ripper brought claim for negligence against police for failing to catch the killer quickly enough.
Argued police had been negligent in their duty
Court held there was no duty of care because it would not be fair and reasonable to impose one on police for this omission

Question 12

Element 2
What standard of care is expected

Answer 12

That of the reasonable man which assumes that a reasonable person is average and not perfect

Question 13

What in an objective test (reasonable man)

Answer 13

“What would a reasonable person have foreseen in this particular situation?”

Question 14

What case did the reasonable man test come from

Answer 14

Anderson B in blyth v Birmingham waterworks 1865
- defined it as ‘the omission to do something which a reasonable man would do’

Question 15

What are the various tests in determining if a defendant has breached their duty of care

Answer 15

Degree of probability that harm will be done

The magnitude of likely harm

The cost and practicality of preventing risk

Potential benefits of the risk

Question 16

What is a case example of the cost and practicality of preventing risk

Answer 16

Latimer v AEC Ltd (1953)
The owner of a factory used sawdust to reduce the effects of a recent flood but the factory floor remained slippery and, as a result, an employee fell and was injured. It was held that there was no breach of duty as the only way to have avoided the risk was to close the factory altogether, which was not proportionate to the level of risk involved.

Question 17

What is a case example of special characteristics in children

Answer 17

.
Mullin v Richards (1998)
Two 15-vear-olds were fighting with plastic rulers. One ruler broke and fragments blinded one of the girls in one eye. It was held that their behaviour was reasonable for their age, so the defendant was not negligent.

Question 18

Element 3
What can resulting damage be broken down into

Answer 18

Causation
Remoteness of damage

Question 19

What is causation

Answer 19

Decided using but for test
( but if it wasn’t for the defendants breach of duty would damage still have occurred)

Question 20

What is a case example for causation

Answer 20

Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington hospital management committee 1868
Husband stomach pain and vomiting
Doctor refused to see him and sent home
Hours later died poisoning
Doctor owes duty of care and breached it
Doctor not held liable he would have died anyway doctor couldn’t do anything

Question 21

What is remoteness of damage

Answer 21

Damage must not be too remote

Question 22

What is psychiatric damage

Answer 22

Damage to the mind rather than the body
To claim damaged claimant must show proof (medical evidence)

Question 23

What are the 2 types of victims

Answer 23

Primary victims
Secondary victims

Question 24

What is a primary victim

Answer 24

Either suffered physical injury or suffered psychiatric injury where it was reasonably foreseeable that they could have been physically injured

Question 25

What is a secondary victim

Answer 25

Suffered psychiatric injury as a result of another persons negligence but was not exposed to danger
Must be proximate relationship (close ties of love and affection)