Negligence: Duty Of Care Flashcards
Donoghue v Stevenson
The claimant argued that she suffered shock and gastroenteritis aster drinking ginger beer from an opaque bottle out of which decomposing snail had fallen when the dregs were poured.
A friend had bought her the drink and so the claimant was unable to sue in her own right in contract.
Claimed £500 from the manufacturer.
Contract fallacy- Winterbottom v Wright rule preventing duty of care from being established in the absence of the contractual relationship.
Consumers paying damages
Three part test- “Neighbour Principle”
The existence of a duty of care owed to the claimant by the defendant.
A breach of that duty by falling below the appropriate standard of care
Damage caused by the defendants breach of duty that was not too remote a consequence of the breach
Anns v Merton London Borough Council (1978)
The local authority had failed to ensure that the building work complied with the plans, resulting in the building having inadequate foundations.
Claimant said it threatened health and safety and sued successfully.
The decision was arrived on policy grounds.
Two part test- determining whether or not the defendant owed a duty of care
Sufficient proximity between defendant and claimant for damage to be a foreseeable possibility of any careless act or omission.
If established..
Then court decided whether or not any policy considerations to limit the scope of the duty or remove it all together.
Caparo v Dickman
Shareholders in a company bought more shares and then made a successful takeover bid aster studying the audited accounts prepared by the defendants.
They later regretted the move and sued the auditors claiming that they had relied on the accounts which had shown a sizeable surplus rather than the deficit that was the case.
Owed no duty of care because the accounts are not created for the purposes of taking over the company and so cannot be relied on for such purposes
Three part test
Whether the consequences of the defendants behaviour were reasonably foreseeable
Sufficient relationship of proximity between the parties for a duty to be imposed.
Fair, just and reasonable in all the circumstances to impose a duty of care
