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12 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the 4 components a claimant must prove to establish negligence? |
1) The claimant was owed a duty of care 2) There was a breach in that duty of care 3) The claimant suffered damage as a result of that breach (causation) 4) The damage suffered was not too remote |
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Define negligence. |
A breach of legal duty to take care which results in damage to the claimant. |
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What is an established duty situation? Give examples. |
A situation where the court recognises the existence of a duty of care, usually arising from a special relationship. E.g. One road user to another, employer to employee, doctor to patient, manufacturer to consumer. |
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When is the neighbour principle used? |
When the courts are determining whether or not a duty of care exists outside of these categories of established duty. They decide on the basis of individual circumstances. |
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Who formulated the neighbour principle? |
Lord Atkin in Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] in order to determine if a duty of care existed between defendant and claimant. |
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Give a brief summary of the facts of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] |
Mrs Donoghue's friend bought her a ginger beer which had the remains of a decomposed snail at the bottom. The bottle was made of opaque glass. Mrs Donoghue developed gastroenteritis as a result. |
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Why didn't Mrs Donoghue make a claim in contract upon breach of warranty against the shopkeeper? Who did she make a claim against? |
Because she had not bought the bottle herself. She instead brought an action against the manufacturer of the ginger beer. |
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What did the House of Lords decide? |
That the manufacturer owed her a duty to take care that the bottle did not contain foreign bodies. |
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"Who, then, in law is my neighbour?" - (Lord Atkin) |
"Persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in my contemplation as so being affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question." |
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What did Lord Macmillan state in Donoghue and Stevenson regarding the limitations of the neighbour principle? |
"The categories of negligence are never closed" |
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Why is the wide scope of the neighbour principle a good thing? |
The courts can formulate new categories of negligence to reflect the current social view and make decisions based on consideration of public policy. |
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What three points were set out in Caparo Industries plc v Dickman [1990] that a court must consider to establish whether a duty of care exists? |
1) Reasonable foresight of harm 2) Sufficient proximity of relationship 3) That it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty |
