Wilkinson v Coverdale: 1793

The defendant had gratuitously undertaken to arrange insurance for the plaintiff. He had not done so, and the plaintiff sued him in negligence.
Held: He was liable.
Case will lie where a party undertakes to get a policy done for another therein, without any consideration, if the party so undertaking it takes any steps for that purpose, but does it so negligently, that the person has no benefit from it.

Judges:

Lord Kenyon

Citations:

(1793) 1 Esp 74, [1801] EngR 101, (1793, 1796, 1801) 1 Esp 75, (1801) 170 ER 284 (B)

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedHedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners Ltd HL 28-May-1963
Banker’s Liability for Negligent Reference
The appellants were advertising agents. They were liable themselves for advertising space taken for a client, and had sought a financial reference from the defendant bankers to the client. The reference was negligent, but the bankers denied any . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Negligence

Updated: 22 November 2022; Ref: scu.216370