Negligence Flashcards
Negligence has a 3 stage test:
Did D owe a duty of care?
Was there a breach?
Did breach cause the damage?
Stage 1: must be proved that D…
Owes C a duty of care
Application: obvious duty of care (Robinson)
Stage 2: Breach of duty
Anderson b in Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks defined breach as
“Doing something a reasonable man wouldn’t do or not doing something a reasonable man would do”
•If d possesses a a skill then…
•If d is an inexperienced learner then…
•They will be judged by the standards of a reasonable competent professional- Bolom/Bolitho
•They will be judged by the standards of an experienced competent person (person with average skill)- Nettleship v Weston
Risk factors- can…
Raise or lower the standard of care required of the reasonable person
Probability of harm-
More precautions taken if probability of harm is high. A reasonable man does not need to take precautions against smaller risks but does have to take them against bigger risks (Bolton v stone)
What is the seriousness/ magnitude of the risk?
Court needs to decide how serious potential injury could be- bigger the risk the more care that needs to be taken (Paris v Stepney council)
Cost and practicality of taking precautions
Is cost of taking precautions is too high then the D may not be in breach (Latimer)
Stage 3- Breach caused Damage
Must be proved that…
The breach caused damage to C- issue of causation
Factual causation-
But for test- “But for the Ds actions would the damage have occurred (Barnett v Chelsea hospital)
Legal causation
Was the damage to C reasonably foreseeable or was it too remote. If damage is too remote D is not the legal cause (Wagon mound no1)
Must be no…
Intervening acts that break chain of causation
Thin skull rule:
Robinson v Post office: “defendant must take C as they find them”
