Negligence

Question 1

When should the test from Caparo v Dickman be applied?

Answer 1

Where there is a novel duty situation

Question 2

What does the case of Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire tell us about duty of care?

Answer 2

Caparo v Dickman does not need to be applied where there is existing case law/established duty situations

Question 3

What is the first part of the Caparo test?

Answer 3

Was harm reasonably foreseeable?

Question 4

In which case was it foreseeable that more harm could occur if an ambulance took 40 minutes to make a 6 mile journey without explanation?

Answer 4

Kent v Griffiths

Question 5

What happened in Bourhill v Young and which parts of the Caparo test does this case illustrate?

Answer 5

A women was 50 yards from a motorcycle crash which she did not witness, but sued the defendant’s estate for the loss of her baby due to the shock of the accident. The harm was not foreseeable nor was she proximate in relationship, time or space

Question 6

Why was the claim in McLoughlin v O’Brian successful?

Answer 6

The claimant witnessed her family in their post-accident state immediately after the accident, in the hospital - she was therefore proximate in relationship (family) and time

Question 7

Name 3 policy factors considered in the ‘fair, just and reasonable’ part of the Caparo test.

Answer 7

1. Wider implications
2. Improving standards of care
3. Insured and in a position to compensate
4. Floodgates argument
5. Deserving of special protection
6. Serving a socially useful purpose

Question 8

Which case tells us that children will be compared to children of the same age regarding breach of duty, and what are the facts of this case?

Answer 8

Mullins v Richards - two 15 year olds were fighting with rulers when one ruler snapped, injuring one child’s eye. It was decided that an ordinary 15 y.o would not have foreseen any danger

Question 9

What rule in breach of duty does the case of Nettleship v Weston give us?

Answer 9

Inexperience is irrelevant - a learner will be compared to a qualified and competent person in that skill

Question 10

‘Has D acted in a__________ with a practice accepted as proper by a r_________ body of (medical men) s_______ in that particular art?’ (B____ v Friern Barnet Hospital Management Committee)

Answer 10

Accordance, responsible, skilled, Bolam

Question 11

Name two risk factors considered in establishing a breach of duty

Answer 11

Size of risk, known risk, special characteristics, precautions, social utility

Question 12

Which case can be used to support that taking reasonable precautions may mean there is no breach of duty?

Answer 12

Latimer v AEC - covered the flooded factory floor with as much straw as possible. It was not reasonable to expect them to close the factory, which would have been the only other alternative

Question 13

What happened in Roe v Minister of Health and how does this relate to breach of duty?

Answer 13

There were invisible cracks in test tubes which caused the anaesthetics injected into patients to become contaminated. As the risk was unknown, there was no breach

Question 14

What were the claimants special characteristics in Paris v Stepney BC?

Answer 14

The claimant was already blind in one eye, and the other was damaged due to the negligence of the employer not supplying safety goggles

Question 15

Why was a lower standard of care acceptable in Watt v Hertfordshire CC?

Answer 15

Because they were responding to an emergency. A heavy jack was not secured as the specially designed truck was on another call, which injured C

Question 16

Which case is used for factual causation in negligence, and what happened in this case?

Answer 16

Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee, the victim would have died from arsenic poisoning whether he had received prompt medical treatment or not

Question 17

What are the three intervening act categories in negligence?

Answer 17

Victims own actions, act of a 3rd party, poor medical treatment

Question 18

What is the test from Knightley v Johns, used for act of a 3rd party?

Answer 18

Was the intervention a natural and probable result?

Question 19

When will poor medical treatment be an intervening act

Answer 19

When it is ‘grossly negligent or a ‘completely inappropriate response’ to an injury (Clerk and Lindsell on Torts)

Question 20

Remoteness - Was d______ reasonably f______? (The W______ M______)

Answer 20

Damage, foreseeable, The Wagon Mound

Question 21

Why was the fire damage to the wharf and ships too remote?

Answer 21

Because the temperature of the oil needed to be very high to catch fire, and it was extremely unlikely to reach that temperature on the water

Question 22

List the three things which may be considered where damage is foreseeable

Answer 22

If it occurs in an unusual or expected way, if it takes an unusual form, that D must take V as he finds them

Question 23

In which case was the thin skull rule applied when molten metal splashed on a workers lip, which turned cancerous and he died?

Answer 23

Smith v Leech Brain

Question 24

What happened in Hughes v Lord Advocate and what is it used to support?

Answer 24

Two boys went down into an unattended manhole with a paraffin lamp which had been left outside it, when one of them dropped the lamp causing an explosion. The fact that the injury came from an unexpected explosion did not matter

Question 25

What happened in Bradford v Robinson Rentals?

Answer 25

The claimant suffered frostbite as a result of having to drive lorries across the country with no heating and broken windows. It was held that some cold related injury was foreseeable, so even though the frostbite was unusual, it did not matter