Negligence Flashcards
Definition of Negligence?
Failure to take proper care over something
How can negligence be caused?
Through an act or an omission.
What are the three things that need to be proven in a negligence case?
1) Duty of care
2) Breach of duty
3) Causation of damage
What is a duty of care?
Responsibility to look out for someones wellbeing.
Outline the case of Donoghue v Stevenson
Mrs Donoghue went to a cafe with a friend who bought her ice cream and a bottle of ginger beer. The ginger beer contained a decomposed snail. Mrs Donoghue suffered from personal injury due to this and proceeded to claim against the manufacturer which was successful and resulted in the establishment of the modern law of negligence and the neighbour test.
Difference between a ‘novel’ case and a case that isn’t ‘novel’
A novel case is a case that hasn’t been seen in the court before whilst a case that isn’t novel is one that may be a commonly occurring case.
What is the caparo test and what are the requirements for it?
A three-part test used in only ‘novel cases’.
1) Was the damage/harm reasonably forseeable?
2)Is there sufficient proximity in the relationship between the claimant and the defendant?
3)Is it fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care?
What case (and brief facts of the case) satisfy the first part of the caparo test?
Kent v Griffiths - Is damage/ Harm reasonably forseeable - Claimant was pregnant and has asthma. Ambulance took 39 mins to respond in which time she had a respiratory arrest causing a miscarriage. The ambulance service was guilty of negligence as they owed a duty of care to the patient.
What case (and brief facts) satisfy the 2nd part of the caparo test?
Bournhill v Young - Claimant was pregnant and reached to get her basket off the tram she’d just exited. Defendant drove past on a motorcycle and crashed into a car killing himself. A while later the claimant walked past and whilst the body had been removed she saw blood on the road and went into shock. No duty of care was owed by the defendant to the claimant. There was not sufficient proximity between the claimant and defendant when the incident occurred.
What case (and brief facts) satisfy the 3rd part of the caparo test?
Hill v Chief constable of West Yorkshire - Jacqueline Hill was the final victim of Peter Sutcliffe afte rhe was released from custody. Her mother made a claim against the chief constable on the grounds that the police had been engligent in his detention. Defendant applied to have claim struck out on the grounds that there was no cause of action since no duty of care was owed by the police in the detection of crime.
Define ‘reasoning by analogy’
When the court sees a novel case, ‘reasoning by analogy’ an be used to see if there is a similar case which may apply.
Who is the reasonable person in breach of duty?
The reasonable person is the ordinary person performing the task competently.
What is breach of duty?
Where the defendant fails to meet the standard of care required by the law
What is the Bolam test?
A 2 part test asking if the defendant’s conduct falls below an ordinary person in that profession and is there a substantial body of opinion that would support the defendants actions.
What are the 3 classes of persons and what are their standards of care?
Learners- same as qualified person (Nettleship v Weston)
Professionals - high standard of care due to expertise. (Bolam)
Children- Lower standard of care compared to a reasonable child of their age (Mullin)
