Liability in negligence Flashcards
What are the three elements of negligence?
1) Duty of Care
2) Breach of Duty
3) Causation
What is meant by a ‘duty of care’? With two key cases
A duty of care is a legal relationship between the parties. The test for a duty of care was first established in Donoghue v Stevenson (1932), where the neighbour principle was established.
This was later changed in the case of Caparo v Dickman (1990), where a three-part incremental test was laid down.w
What was the first stage of the caparo test?
‘The first stage is reasonabley forseeable damage or harm’
concerns the harm is reasonabley forseeable as a consequence of the acts of the D.
Case: Kent V Ghriffthns
(athsma attack long abulence wait case)
What was the second stage of the caparo test?
‘Was there sufficient proximity between the parties?’
Kent v Griffiths (2000)
there was a sufficiently close relationship between the ambulance service and the claimant to establish a duty of care.
What was the third stage of the caparo test?
concerns if Is it fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care?
This is also known as the floodgates argument as it prevents the risk of opening up a potential claim to a huge number of claimants
Robinson v CC of West Yorkshire Police (2018)
What first established the test for breach of duty? What is this test?
First established in Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks (1865),
it was held that the accepted standard is that of the reasonable person. This is an objective test and asks, ‘What would a reasonable person have foreseen in this particular situation?
What are the three special catagories of people in establishing a breach of duty?
- Skilled defendants
- Inexperienced learners
- Children and young people
How are ‘skilled defendants’ dealt with in these cases?
Skilled defendants – judged by the profession as a whole, meaning D will be liable if their conduct falls below the standard expected of the ordinary competent member of that profession:
R vs Adomako
How are ‘inexperienced learners’ dealt with in these cases?
judged by the standard of the competent, more experienced person:
Nettleship v Weston (1971).
How are ‘children and young people’ dealt with in these cases?
– The standard is that of a reasonable person of the defendant’s age at the time of the accident:
Nettleship v Weston (1971).
Why is Causation needed in negligence?
Causation is used to prove that the damage suffered was caused by the breach of duty (factual causation) and that the loss or damage was not too remote
for causation it also has to have been reasonably foreseeable (legal causation).
What is used to prove factual causation
- The ‘But For’ test - but for the defendant’s act or omission the injury or damage would not have occurred:
R vs White
- Novus Actus Interveniens – consider if there has been an intervening act which has broken the chain of causation, and the principle to be applied is whether the injury or damage was a foreseeable consequence of the original negligent act or omission
R vs Blaue (i thnik)
What is used to prove legal causation?
1) Thin Skull Rule - take the victim as you find them
R vs Hayward
2) Type of injury must be foreseeable – this means that the damage must not be too remote from the original act:
Wagon Mound (No 1) (1951)
3) Scale of injury need NOT BE foreseeable – the type of injury has to be foreseeable, but the seriousness of the injury does not have to be foreseeable:
Hughes v Lord Advocate (1963)
What is meant by Contributory Negligence?
corcerns if the claimant done anything to contribute to his own injuries?
If so, he may have his damages reduced by a percentage.
What KEY case deals with breach of duty for children and inexperienced learners?
Nettleship v Weston
