Negligence and Occupier's liability Flashcards
Definition of Negligence
a claim where the defendant has breached a legal duty to take care
AND as a result of that breach,
damage or injury has been caused to the claimant.
Three elements of the tort of negligence
- Defendant must OWE the claimant a duty of care.
- Defendant must BREACH that duty of care.
- Breach must cause DAMAGE to the claimant.
Which three harms does negligence protect?
- Personal injury
- Damage to property
- Economic loss
What are the three elements of a negligence claim.
Duty of care + Breach of the duty + Causation of damage.
What is a duty of care?
a legal concept
where one party can be liable to another party in negligence.
Will an established duty of care precedent suffice?
yes
What happens if there is no established duty of care precedent?
duty of care test will be applied to new situations
current test for duty of care?
Caparo v Dickman:
Damage foreseeable?
Court will ask, ‘would a reasonable person in the defendant’s position have foreseen the damage/harm?’
Is a duty of care owed to people in general?
NO
Duty of care is owed to a person or a category of people
Is duty to a particular kind of harm rather than any kind of harm?
and what case supports this.
yes
Donoghue v Stevenson
What are the 2 rules regarding relationship of proximity?
between claimant and the defendant
AND
must be sufficiently close.
Does it have to be just and reasonable to impose a duty?
yes
Who will the policy be considered by?
the court.
Which three implications will the court consider when finding a duty of care.
Ethical
Economic
Social implications
Which three situations has the duty of care test been modified for.
- Omissions
- Economic loss
- Psychiatric injury.
Is duty of care generally owed to omissions?
no
What are the situations
where defendant can be held liable for an omission to act
Defendant has a high degree of control over the claimant.
police and prisoner
parents and children etc.
Will the defendant be liable if he has assumed responsibility for the claimant?
yes
How has the defendant assumed responsibility for the claimant?
assumed responsibility for the safety of the claimant in some way.
What happens when the defendant creates a dangerous situation and fails to deal with it OR makes it worse?
defendant has a positive duty to deal with the danger.
Claims for pure economic loss arise from?
either a negligent act or misstatement.
Can claims be made for psychiatric harm?
yes
How must the claimant prove that the defendant breached the duty of care?
by failing to meet the desired standard of care.
Is the general standard of care objective or subjective?
And what is it known as?
objective
The standard of reasonableness.
Defendant must meet the standard of care that which would be expected of a …..
reasonable person
Does the court take into account the personal qualities of the defendant?
no
Person exercises a special professional skills, or knowledge,
that person will be judged according to ….
the degree of skill OR knowledge expected from a person who has that skill OR knowledge.
Generally, if defendant’s actions supported by a reasonable body of professional opinion…
should not be judged negligent.
Court not obliged to find a professional not liable for negligence because…
other experts in the same field have testified that his actions were correct.
Defendant exercising a particular skill, expected to do so to the standard…
of a reasonable person at the same level within that field.
The court will take into account 4 factors when deciding the standard of care to be expected.
- Magnitude of risk
- Cost and practicability to prevent the risk
- Common practice in the relevant trade or profession
- Any potential benefits to society from the defendant’s activity that caused the risk.
Claimant must prove the breach of duty on…
the balance of probabilities.
The claimant can rely on two types of witnesses?
witnesses of fact
expert witnesses
Event where there are no witnesses AND insufficient facts to prove negligence,
claimant can seek to rely on the following to prove negligence:
(2 elements)
Res Ipsa Loquitor
The Civil Evidence Act 1958
What does Res Ipsa Loquitor do to prove negligence?
and what must the court find for this to apply?
raises a prima facie case of negligence against the defendant.
Accident must be of a kind which doesn’t normally happen without negligence.
Cause of the accident must have been under the defendant’s control.
When is The Civil Evidence Act 1958 used?
defendant who has committed a criminal offence, presumed to have committed that offence in any subsequent civil proceedings.
What must be proved for the chain of causation (factual and legal) between the claimant and the defendant?
the defendant’s breach of duty actually caused the damage by the claimant,
and that the damage suffered was not too remote from the breach.
But for the defendant’s breach of duty, would the damage OR harm to the claimant have happened?
If yes…
If no…
If yes, causation not been established AND there is no liability in negligence.
If not, causation has been established.
What must the claimant show for multiple causes?
and what doesn’t need to be shown.
that the defendant’s breach materially contributed to the damage.
Doesn’t need to show that the defendant’s breach was the ONLY cause of the damage.
Actions of a third party can break the chain of causation if…
the third party acted intentionally OR recklessly,
Or if it’s not a foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s negligence.
Intervening act gives rise to a liability for negligence.
correct?
no
What is an intervening act?
and what will the courts look to see?
something that the claimant does.
courts will look to see if it’s fair to hold them responsible for the damage caused by that act.
Intervening act will be assessed to see if it’s…
reasonable.
If chain of causation is broken…
defendant only liable for damage up until the second event by the claimant.
What must the claimant prove regarding remoteness?
the damage wasn’t too remote from the defendant’s breach.
Test in negligence is…
and what is it?
reasonable foreseeability
defendant will be liable for damage which was reasonably foreseeable at the time when the defendant breached their duty.
so long as the type of damage is reasonably foreseeable the defendant is liable, EVEN IF…
the way it occurred wasn’t.
Egg Shell Rule?
defendant liable for the full extent of harm EVEN IF the extent of the harm wasn’t foreseeable,
due to some weakness in the claimant.
Main remedy in tort for PI or death claims?
payment of damages
Damages are…
AND are intended to…
compensatory
restore to the claimant what he’s lost.
General Damages?
presumed to result from the tort such as pain and suffering from the PI and loss of future earnings.
Special Damages?
don’t naturally arise from the tort
BUT must be listed in court pleadings AND proved in court such as specific expense as a result of the injury.