Tort - General Negligence - Remoteness Cases

Question 1

Overseas Tankship Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, The Wagon Mound (No1)

Answer 1

Remoteness - oil spill from ship - caught fire

Is the damage foreseeable by the reasonable person?

Question 2

Hughes v Lord Advocate

Answer 2

Remoteness - ‘Similar in type rule’

manhole - paraffin lamp - explosion

Provided the type of injury (e.g. burn) was reasonably foreseeable, it is not necessary to foresee the precise way in which it was caused.

Question 3

Tremain v Pike

Answer 3

Remoteness - ‘Similar in type rule’

Farm - rats - Weil’s disease (rare)

Where the type of injury is not reasonably foreseeable, a defendant will not be liable, even if some other kind of injury is foreseeable.

Question 4

Robinson v Post Office

Answer 4

“Thin Skull Rule”

C suffered slight injuries - received anti-tetanus jab - suffered allergic reaction

Where some kind of harm is foreseeable, D liable for the full extent, even if full extent is unforeseeable or exceptional.

Question 5

Bradford v Robinson rentals

Answer 5

Frostbite case

Question 6

Langdon v O’connor

Answer 6

Thin wallet rule