Claimant’s claim for damages for personal injury arising out of a road traffic accident, and in particular post traumatic stress disorder.
[2018] EWHC 1671 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.620086
A seaman while on a foreign voyage was totally incapacitated by accidental injury. Under the Merchant Shipping Acts his employers became liable to pay wages up to the date of discharge, hospital and surgical expenses, and his maintenance until his arrival back in England. The County Court Judge held that compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act commenced only upon the date of arrival, and that the previous payments by the employers under the Merchant Shipping Acts should not be taken into account. The award was set aside by the Court of Appeal.
Held: Where employers become liable in respect of a seaman employed by them, both under the Merchant Shipping Act 1906 to pay, relieve, and maintain him while disabled abroad, and also, under the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906, to pay compensation to him, the right to compensation commences at the expiry of the duties of maintenance, and the cost of maintenance does not fall to be taken into account.
[1910] UKHL 728, 48 SLR 728
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619807
A workman suffered from a diseased condition of the arteries, and he died of an apoplectic seizure while engaged at work. There was no evidence to show that the apoplexy resulted from a strain or any other incident of labour.
Held that there was no evidence that the death had occurred from accident arising out of the employment
[1910] UKHL 727, 48 SLR 727
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619801
A workman was injured while at work owing to the negligence of two fellow-servants. The employers became liable to pay him compensation, and claimed to be indemnified by the fellow-servants, as liable to pay damages under ‘a legal liability in some person other than the employer’ to pay damage in respect of the injury. Held that the fellow-servants’ negligence constituted legal liability in terms of the Act, and that the doctrine of collaborateur did not affect the liabilities of servants inter se.
[1910] UKHL 724
Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 6
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619802
The appellant was a workman who sustained injury by accident in the course of his employment with the respondents. He gave formal unwritten notice of a claim to compensation, but without mentioning any fixed amount in his claim. The Court of Appeal ( Cozens-Hardy, M. R., Fletcher Moulton and Farwell, L.JJ.) set aside the order of the County Court Judge and found that the workman was disentitled from compensation under the Act in respect of non-compliance with the statutory requisites of claim.
The workman appealed.
Held: A ‘claim for compensation’ under sec. 2 (1) of the Act need not be a claim for a specific sum.
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), the Earl of Halsbury, Lords Atkinson, Collins, Shaw, and Mersey
[1910] UKHL 685, 48 SLR 685
Workmen’s Compensation Act 1897
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619795
In construing ‘seamen,’ who are excluded from the provisions of the Employers’ Liability Act 1880, the Court is not in any way fettered by the definition of ‘seamen’ in the Merchant Shipping Act 1854. A ‘seaman’ is one who is by vocation a seafaring man, and who is at work connected with his duties as a seafaring man.
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Macnaghten, Atkinson, Collins, and Sha
[1910] UKHL 623, 47 SLR 623
Employers’ Liability Act 1880, Merchant Shipping Act 1854
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619778
The appellant in this case was in the employment of the respondents, and as the result of an accident received injuries which entitled him to compensation, the amount of which was settled in an agreement in accordance with the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII, cap. 58). On an application by the respondents to the County Court Judge to review the agreement, evidence being forthcoming that the appellant had completely recovered, the latter granted an order terminating the agreement. This appeal was brought on the grounds that the County Court Judge exceeded his jurisdiction in terminating the agreement, or alternatively that the agreement was an attempt to contract out of the Act, and therefore void.
The Court of Appeal ( Cozens-Hardy, M.R., Fletcher-Moulton, and Farwell, L.JJ.) affirmed.
Held:
A registered agreement between employer and employed, under which the employed accepts a certain weekly payment in discharge of the employer’s liability under the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 ‘until ended, diminished, increased, or redeemed’ by an order of the arbiter, is legal. Technically such an agreement cannot be terminated by the arbiter, though he may end permanently, and not merely temporarily, the payments.
Lord Chancellor (Earl Loreburn), Lords Atkinson, Shaw, and Mersey
[1912] UKHL 1020, 49 SLR 1020
Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619232
The court considered whether a civil remedy existed for breach of statutory duty. Lord Kinnear said: ‘If the duty be established, I do not think there is any serious question as to civil liability. There is no reasonable ground for maintaining that a proceeding by way of penalty is the only remedy allowed by the statute. . We are to consider the scope and purpose of the statute and in particular for whose benefit it is intended. Now the object of the present statute is plain. It was intended to compel mine owners to make due provision for the safety of the men working in their mines, and the persons for whose benefit all these rules are to be enforced are the persons exposed to danger. But when a duty of this kind is imposed for the benefit of particular persons, there arises at common law a correlative right in those persons who may be injured by its contravention. Therefore I think that it is impossible to hold that the penalty clause detracts in any way from the prima facie right of the persons for whose benefit the statutory enactment has been passed to enforce the civil liability. I think this has been found both in England and Scotland in cases in which the point was directly raised, the case of Groves v. Lord Wimborne in England and Kelly v. Glebe Sugar Refining Company in Scotland.’
The Coal Mines Regulation Act 1887, sec. 49, enacts-‘The following general rules shall be observed, so far as is reasonably practicable, in every mine.’
Held that although this did not impose on the mine-owner an absolute duty that the rules be observed, it placed on him, in the event of a breach of a rule, the onus of proving that he had done everything that was practicable to have the rule observed. If he failed to discharge this onus, he was liable at common law for any damage resulting therefrom, and could not derive protection from the doctrine of common employment.
Circumstances in which held that the owners of a coal mine were liable at common law and not under the Employers’ Liability Act 1880 only, for the death of a miner from carbon monoxide gas, where the presence of the miner in the mine was held to be due to breaches of general rules 4 (1) and 7, and special rule 37, by the under-manager in charge of the mine and the fireman, inasmuch as the mine-owners had not taken, such means as were open to them of making these officials competent to deal with carbon monoxide.
Lord Kinnear said: ‘We are to consider the scope and purpose of the statute and in particular for whose benefit it is intended. Now the object of the present statute is plain. It was intended to compel mine owners to make due provision for the safety of the men working in their mines, and the persons for whose benefit all these rules are to be enforced are the persons exposed to danger. But when a duty of this kind is imposed for the benefit of particular persons, there arises at common law a correlative right in those persons who may be injured by its contravention. Therefore I think it is quite impossible to hold that the penalty clause detracts in any way from the prima facie right of the persons for whose benefit the statutory enactment has been passed to enforce the civil liability.’
The Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lord Ashbourne, Lord Kinnear, and Lord Shaw
[1912] AC 149, [1911] UKHL 228, 1912 SC (HL) 33, 49 SLR 228, [1912] AC 149
Coal Mines Regulation Act 1887 49
Scotland
Cited – Groves v Lord Wimborne CA 1898
The court heard a case dealing with a claim for breach of a duty to fence dangerous machinery under the Act.
Held: Legislation protecting safety in the workplace gives rise to an action by a person for whom the protection was intended for . .
At SCS – Black v The Fife Coal Co, Ltd SCS 24-Nov-1908
. .
Cited – Ziemniak v ETPM Deep Sea Ltd CA 7-May-2003
A seaman was injured taking part in a safety drill aboard ship. The defendant had been found not to be negligent, but the claimant alleged breach of statutory duty under the Regulations.
Held: Groves v Wimborne clearly established that . .
Cited – Campbell v Gordon SC 6-Jul-2016
The employee was injured at work, but in a way excluded from the employers insurance cover. He now sought to make the sole company director liable, hoping in term to take action against the director’s insurance brokers for negligence, the director . .
Dictum Approved – Cutler v Wandsworth Stadium Ltd HL 1949
The Act required the occupier of a licensed racetrack to take all steps necessary to secure that, so long as a totalisator was being lawfully operated on the track, there was available for bookmakers space on the track where they could conveniently . .
Dictum Approved – Lonrho Ltd v Shell Petroleum Co Ltd (No 2) HL 1-Apr-1981
No General Liability in Tort for Wrongful Acts
The plaintiff had previously constructed an oil supply pipeline from Beira to Mozambique. After Rhodesia declared unilateral independence, it became a criminal offence to supply to Rhodesia without a licence. The plaintiff ceased supply as required, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619220
A workman was killed by an accident, and his widow sought to recover compensation from his employers in respect of his death. The widow of a workman who was accidentally killed had for twenty years before his death neither received any support whatever from him nor communicated with him in any way. The County Court Judge made an award of compensation, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal ( Cosens-Hardy, M.R., Fletcher-Moulton and Farwell, L.JJ.). The employers now appealed.
Held: There was no evidence on which the County Court Judge could competently find in fact that the widow was dependent either totally or partially upon the workman.
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Atkinson, Shaw, and Robson.
[1911] UKHL 664, 49 SLR 664
Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619212
A workman who, in consequence of an accident, lost the sight of an eye without suffering any personal disfigurement and without losing his power to get work, fifteen years later met with another accident to the same eye, which necessitated its removal. In consequence of the disfigurement thereby produced he found himself unable to get employment.
Held that incapacity for work in the sense of Schedule I (1) ( b), (3), is not limited to physical incapacity, but includes also the absence of a market for the workman’s labour, due to some defect personal to himself caused by the injury he has received which renders his labour unsaleable, and that the workman was accordingly entitled to compensation.
the Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Macnaghten, Atkinson, and Shaw
[1912] UKHL 711
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619241
A stoker was injured by accident while in the appellants’ employment. At the same time he was a member of the Royal Naval Reserve and in receipt of an annual retainer of pounds 6. In consequence of the accident he was discharged from that service and lost the retainer. In assessing the amount of compensation the County Court Judge took into account the amount of the stoker’s retainer paid to him by the Royal Naval Reserve. This finding was affirmed by the Court of Appeal ( Cozens-Hardy, M.R., and Fletcher Moulton, L.J., diss. Farwell, L.J.). The employers appealed.
Held: In assessing the amount of the weekly compensation payable by the appellants, the amount of the stoker’s earnings from the Royal Naval Reserve must be taken into account, and that section 9 of the Act only operated to prevent liability upon the Crown in respect of persons in its naval or military service.
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Atkinson, Shaw, and Robson
[1911] UKHL 625, 49 SLR 625
Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906
England and Wales
Updated: 25 April 2022; Ref: scu.619204
Appeal from rejection of challenge to CICA rule insofar as it concerns applicants for compensation who have unspent criminal convictions which resulted in a custodial sentence or community order.
[2018] EWCA Civ 1534
England and Wales
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618933
The claimant’s husband had committed suicide. She sought damages for financial loss from his former employers under the 1976 Act. He had suffered a severe and debilitating injury working for them leading to his depression and suicide. The employers said that these damages were too remote.
Held: The employer’s appeal was dismissed.
Lord Bingham said: ‘Mr Corr’s suicide was not a voluntary, informed decision taken by him as an adult of sound mind making and giving effect to a personal decision about his future. It was the response of a man suffering from a severely depressive illness which impaired his capacity to make reasoned and informed judgments about his future, such illness being, as is accepted, a consequence of the employer’s tort. It is in no way unfair to hold the employer responsible for this dire consequence of its breach of duty, although it could well be thought unfair to the victim not to do so.’ and ‘The law does not generally treat us as our brother’s keeper, responsible for what he may choose to do to his own disadvantage. It is his choice. But I do not think that the submission addresses the particular features of this case. The employer owed the deceased the duty already noted, embracing psychological as well as physical injury. Its breach caused him injury of both kinds. While he was not, at the time of his death, insane in M’Naghten’s terms, nor was he fully responsible. He acted in a way which he would not have done but for the injury from which the employer’s breach caused him to suffer. This being so, I do not think his conduct in taking his own life can be said to fall outside the scope of the duty which his employer owed him. ‘
Lord Hoffmann said: ‘On a ‘but for’ test, his jump from the top of the multi-storey carpark can be said to have been ’caused’ by his employer’s negligence. But the developing case law has placed limits on the extent of the ‘but for’ consequences of actionable negligence for which the negligent actor can be held liable. This case engages and questions the extent of those limits . . The question in this case, therefore, is whether Mr Corr’s deliberate act of jumping from a high building in order to kill himself, an apparent novus actus, albeit one that was causally connected, on a ‘but-for’ basis, to the original negligence, broke the claim of causative consequences for which Mr Corr’s negligent employers must accept responsibility.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Mance, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 2 WLR 499, [2008] 2 All ER 943, [2008] ICR 372, [2008] AC 884, [2008] PIQR P11
Fatal Accidents Act 1976 1, Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934
England and Wales
Appeal from – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd CA 31-Mar-2006
The deceased had suffered a head injury whilst working for the defendant. In addition to severe physical consequences he suffered post-traumatic stress, became more and more depressed, and then committed suicide six years later. The claimant . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Approved – Wright v Davidson 7-Feb-1992
(British Columbia Court of Appeal) The court rejected a claim for damages for a suicide after the deceased claimant had suffered injury in a road collision because the conscious decision of the deceased to take her own life had occurred without any . .
Cited – St George’s Healthcare National Health Service Trust v S (No 2); Regina v Collins and Others ex parte S (No 2) CA 3-Aug-1998
The patient came to hospital pregnant. The doctors advised a caesarian section but she refused it. The doctors said that she lacked capacity and applied to the court for leave to proceed.
Held: It was wrong to apply to the court to override . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Daniel MNaghtens Case HL 1843
Daniel M’Naghten suffered from a mental disorder under which he believed that he was being persecuted by various bodies in authority, including the Tory Party. He sought to kill the Tory Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, but shot and killed instead . .
Cited – Stapley v Gypsum Mines Ltd HL 25-Jun-1953
Plaintiff to take own responsibility for damage
The question was whether the fault of the deceased’s fellow workman, they both having disobeyed their foreman’s instructions, was to be regarded as having contributed to the accident.
Held: A plaintiff must ‘share in the responsibility for the . .
Cited – Regina v Kennedy HL 17-Oct-2007
The defendant had been convicted of manslaughter. He had supplied a class A drug to a friend who then died taking it. The House was asked ‘When is it appropriate to find someone guilty of manslaughter where that person has been involved in the . .
Cited – Smith v Leech Brain and Co Ltd CA 1962
The reasoning in The Wagon Mound did not affect the rule that a tortfeasor takes his victim as he finds him.
Lord Parker CJ said: ‘The test is not whether these employers could reasonably have foreseen that a burn would cause cancer and that . .
Cited – Kirkham v Anderton, The Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester police CA 20-Dec-1989
The claimant’s husband hanged himself in Risley Remand Centre after the police had failed to warn the prison authorities that he was (as the police knew) a suicide risk. He was suffering from clinical depression and had previously attempted suicide . .
Cited – AMP General Insurance Ltd v Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales 2001
(Supreme Court of New South Wales) Spigelman CJ said: ‘There was no duty upon the employer . . to protect the deceased from self harm’. . .
Cited – Simmons v British Steel plc HL 29-Apr-2004
The claimant was injured at work as a consequence of the defender’s negligence. His injuries became more severe, and he came to suffer a disabling depression.
Held: the Inner House had been wrong to characterise the Outer House decision as . .
At first Instance – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd QBD 28-Apr-2005
The claimant’s husband had been employed by the defendant and had suffered severe head injuries because of malfunctioning machinery. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and that led to depression. He ultimately committed suicide. His widow . .
Cited – Gray v Thames Trains Ltd and Another CA 25-Jun-2008
The claimant was a victim of the Ladbroke Grove rail crash. He later committed and was convicted of a manslaughter and detained under the 1983 Act. He said that the accident had caused a major personality change. The defendant relied on the defence . .
Cited – St George v The Home Office CA 8-Oct-2008
The claimant was taken into prison. He was known to be subject to epilepsy, with high risks on withdrawal from drugs, but was allocated a high bunk. He had a seizure and fell, suffering head injuries. He sought damages in negligence. The defendant . .
Cited – Environment Agency v Ellis CA 17-Oct-2008
The claimant was injured working for the appellants. The appellants now appealed the finding that they were responsible saying that other factors contributed to the injury, and in particular that he had fallen at home. The claimant said that that . .
Cited – Chubb Fire Ltd v The Vicar of Spalding and Churchwardens and Church Council of The Church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Spalding CA 20-Aug-2010
The appellants had supplied a dry powder extinguisher to the church. Vandals discharged the extinguisher, requiring substantial sums to be spent cleaning the dust. The church’s insurers sought to recover the costs saying that the appellant should . .
Cited – Gnango, Regina v SC 14-Dec-2011
The prosecutor appealed against a successful appeal by the defendant against his conviction for murder. He and an opponent had engaged in a street battle using guns. His opponent had shot an innocent passer by. The court was now asked as to whether . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.265967
The maxim volenti non fit injuria, which originates from Roman law, is a notorious source of confusion. The court doubted whether the maxim ever could apply to license in advance a subsequent act of negligence, for if the consent precedes the act of negligence the plaintiff cannot at that time have full knowledge of the extent as well as the nature of the risk which he will run. Mr Justice Asquith however, suggested that the maxim might nevertheless be applicable to cases where a dangerous physical condition had been brought about by the negligence of the defendant, and the plaintiff with full knowledge of the existing danger elected to run the risk thereof.
Asquith J
[1939] 1 KB 509
England and Wales
Distinguished – Morris v Murray CA 3-Aug-1990
The plaintiff agreed to be flown by the defendant in his light aircraft though he knew the defendant was inebriated. The plaintiff drove the car which took them to the airfield and he helped to start and refuel the aircraft, which was piloted by the . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Wooldridge v Sumner and Another CA 4-Jun-1962
The plaintiff photographer was injured when attending a show jumping competition at the White City Stadium. A horse caught him as it passed.
Held: The defendant’s appeal against the finding of negligence succeeded: ‘a competitor or player . .
Cited – White v Blackmore CA 15-Jun-1972
The plaintiff attended a jalopy car race and was injured. It was a condition of his entry that he agreed that motor racing was dangerous and that he would not hold the organisers or others responsible if injured. He was injured when a safety rope, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.188822
The claimant motorcyclist appealed dismissal of his claim for damages. Another motorcycle rider had failed to negotiate a bend, and hit a car in coming in the opposite direction. The claimant said that he crashed when he lost control in the debris.
Held: The judge had not correctly identified the various ways in which the claimant had pleaded his case that his accident occurred through his reaction to the emergency ahead of him. The evidence suggested that but for the accident he would have successfully have negotiated the bend. The appeal was allowed subject to a finding of 20% contributory negligence.
Ward LJ, Lawrence Collins LJ, Toulson LJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 1315
England and Wales
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.262108
The deceased had suffered a head injury whilst working for the defendant. In addition to severe physical consequences he suffered post-traumatic stress, became more and more depressed, and then committed suicide six years later. The claimant appealed against refusal of an award under the 1976 Act. The judge had decided that it was not part of the employer’s duty of care to prevent a later suicide.
Held: The widow’s appeal succeeded. If the suicide arose from the depression, it was a consequence of the injury which led to the depression and forseeable. The suicide was not a new intervening cause.
Ward LJ (dissenting) siad: ‘there are five requirements for the tort of negligence: (1) the existence in law of a duty of care (2) breach of that duty; (3) damage; (4) a causal connection between the defendant’s careless conduct and the damage and (5) the particular kind of damage not being too remote. ‘ Suicide was no longer an offence and it was wrong to apply the M’Naughten system: ‘In a just system of compensation, the tortfeasor cannot escape his responsibility by asserting a break in the chain of causation if his act has caused a depression and the depression so has unhinged the mind as to ‘dethrone [the] power of volition’.’ and ‘the question of reasonable foresight must be judged in the light of the circumstances which were known and ought to have been known at the time the accident occurred, and not with the benefit of hindsight. ‘ At the time of the accident it could have been reasonably foreseen that the accident would lead to suicide.
Sedley LJ: ‘There is thus no prior ground of legal logic, and no surviving ground of legal policy, for excluding suicide from the compensable consequences of actionable negligence. If a case of suicide is to be excluded, it has to be because the evidence has failed to establish that the judgment and volition of the deceased were overwhelmed by depression consequent on the injury. This is in each case a matter of factual inquiry.’ The depression which led to thw suicide was entirely derived from the accident.
Ward, Sedley, Wilson LJJ
[2006] EWCA Civ 331, Times 21-Apr-2006, [2006] ICR 1138, [2007] QB 46, [2006] 2 All ER 929, [2006] 3 WLR 395
England and Wales
Cited – Church v Dugdale and Adams Ltd CA 1929
The court was asked whether an employer was responsible in law to a workman who having been injured so as to leave the employer liable under the Workers’ Compensation Acts, later committed suicide.
Held: Lord Hamworth MR said: ‘It is necessary . .
Cited – Murdoch v British Israel World Federation 1942
The court considered the nature of a deceased’s insanity so as to prevent his suicide operating as a novus actus interveniens: ‘The plaintiff, in my opinion has succeeded in proving that her husband was so insane at the time he committed suicide as . .
Cited – Orange v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police CA 1-May-2001
Police and prison authorities had a duty of care to those in their custody, which included a duty to perform an assessment of the risk of the prisoner committing suicide, but did not have a general duty to take steps to prevent suicide in the . .
Cited – Rahman v Arearose Limited and Another, University College London, NHS Trust CA 15-Jun-2000
The claimant had suffered a vicious physical assault from which the claimant’s employers should have protected him, and an incompetently performed surgical operation. Three psychiatrists agreed that the aetiology of the claimant’s very severe . .
Cited – Bourhill v Young’s Executor HL 5-Aug-1942
When considering claims for damages for shock, the court only recognised the action lying where the injury by shock was sustained ‘through the medium of the eye or the ear without direct contact.’ Wright L said: ‘No doubt, it has long ago been . .
Cited – Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council HL 24-May-2000
An abandoned boat had been left on its land and not removed by the council. Children tried to repair it, jacked it up, and a child was injured when it fell. It was argued for the boy, who now appealed dismissal of his claim by the Court of Appeal, . .
Cited – Cavanagh v London Transport Executive 23-Oct-1956
The deceased stepped onto the road just behind a taxi cab which was stationary or just drawing up. He neither saw nor heard an approaching number bus and walked directly into its path. He suffered a fractured skull. There was evidence that his . .
Cited – Holdlen Pty Ltd v Walsh 2000
(New South Wales – Court of Appeal) Giles JA said: ‘but it is now more readily recognised that in causation, said to be a question of fact though tempered by value judgements and infused with policy considerations because with a view to allocating . .
No Longer good law – Pigney v Pointers Transport Services Ltd 1957
Mr Pigney had suffered severe head injuries in an accident in the course of his employment with the defendant. He committed suicide eighteen months later.
Held: The court considered whether the accident could be the cause of the suicide: ‘It . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Cited – Kirkham v Anderton, The Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester police CA 20-Dec-1989
The claimant’s husband hanged himself in Risley Remand Centre after the police had failed to warn the prison authorities that he was (as the police knew) a suicide risk. He was suffering from clinical depression and had previously attempted suicide . .
Cited – Allan v Barclay IHCS 1864
Lord Kinloch said: ‘The grand rule on the subject of damages is, that none can be claimed except such as naturally and directly arise out of the wrong done; and such, therefore, as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the view of the . .
Cited – In re Polemis and Furness, Withy and Co CA 1921
There was an exception in a time Charterparty for ‘fire . . always mutually accepted.’
Held: These words were not sufficient to exclude damage caused by a fire due to the negligent act of stevedores (the charterers’ agents) in the course of . .
Cited – Cowan v National Coal Board 1958
An employee of the defenders suffered an injury to his eye in the course of his employment. He became nervous and depressed and committed suicide about four months after the accident. His widow and children sought damages from the National Coal . .
Cited – McKew v Holland and Hannan and Cubitts HL 26-Nov-1969
The appellant had been injured in the course of his employment for which the respondents were liable. Sometimes his left leg would gave way beneath him. He was descending a steep staircase without a handrail when the leg collapsed and he tried to . .
Cited – Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd (The Wagon Mound No 1) PC 18-Jan-1961
Foreseeability Standard to Establish Negligence
Complaint was made that oil had been discharged into Sydney Harbour causing damage. The court differentiated damage by fire from other types of physical damage to property for the purposes of liability in tort, saying ‘We have come back to the plain . .
Cited – Simmons v British Steel plc HL 29-Apr-2004
The claimant was injured at work as a consequence of the defender’s negligence. His injuries became more severe, and he came to suffer a disabling depression.
Held: the Inner House had been wrong to characterise the Outer House decision as . .
Cited – Hughes v Lord Advocate HL 21-Feb-1963
The defendants had left a manhole uncovered and protected only by a tent and paraffin lamp. A child climbed down the hole. When he came out he kicked over one of the lamps. It fell into the hole and caused an explosion. The child was burned. The . .
Cited – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council HL 1-Apr-2004
Statutory Duty Not Extended by Common Law
The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down.
Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include . .
Cited – The Attorney General v Hartwell PC 23-Feb-2004
PC (The British Virgin Islands) A police officer had taken the police revolver, and used it to shoot the claimant. It was alleged that the respondent police force were vicariously liable for his acts and also . .
Cited – Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council and others HL 31-Jul-2003
The claimant dived into a lake, severely injuring himself. The council appealed liability, arguing that it owed him no duty of care under the Act since he was a trespasser. It had placed warning signs to deter swimmers.
Held: The council’s . .
Cited – March v E and MH Stramore 1991
Considerations of policy and value judgments necessarily enter into the assessment of causation. . .
Cited – Clunis (By his Next Friend Prince) v Camden and Islington Health Authority CA 5-Dec-1997
The plaintiff had killed someone and, as a result, been convicted of manslaughter and ordered to be detained in a secure hospital when subject to after-care under section 117 of the 1983 Act. He sought damages from the health authority on the basis . .
Cited – Wright v Davidson 7-Feb-1992
(British Columbia Court of Appeal) The court rejected a claim for damages for a suicide after the deceased claimant had suffered injury in a road collision because the conscious decision of the deceased to take her own life had occurred without any . .
Appeal from – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd QBD 28-Apr-2005
The claimant’s husband had been employed by the defendant and had suffered severe head injuries because of malfunctioning machinery. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and that led to depression. He ultimately committed suicide. His widow . .
Appeal from – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd HL 27-Feb-2008
The claimant’s husband had committed suicide. She sought damages for financial loss from his former employers under the 1976 Act. He had suffered a severe and debilitating injury working for them leading to his depression and suicide. The employers . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.239800
Lord Robertson
[1975] UKHL 6, 1976 SLT 21, 1976 SC (HL) 1
Scotland
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.279739
In an action at the instance of a passenger on a passenger steamer against the owners for damages for personal injuries sustained by him on the return voyage, the defenders pleaded that any liability on their part was excluded by the conditions printed on the face of the ticket issued to and accepted by the pursuer. The Court ( rev. judgment of Lord Anderson, Ordinary, allowing an issue and a counter-issue) remitted the cause to the Lord Ordinary to allow a proof before answer.
[1915] SLR 241
Scotland
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618255
The widow of a workman who had died of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, on the evening of the day of his death, which took place on 28th December, informed a delegate of her husband’s union of the accident and death, and left the matter of compensation in his hands. The union officials, however, did not give notice of the accident till 6th January, and in the meantime the body had been interred. Held that notice had not been given as soon as practicable, and that there was no reasonable cause for delay, but that there was evidence on which the arbiter was entitled to find that the employers had not suffered prejudice by the delay.
[1916] SLR 270
Scotland
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618263
An ironmoulder’s helper while engaged at work in a stooping position using a hammer between his legs and in close proximity to two boxes of molten metal was struck by an intoxicated stranger, and in consequence of
the blow lost his balance and falling between the boxes sustained injuries by bruising and burning. Held that it was competent for the arbitrator to find that the workman was injured by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment.
[1915] SLR 236
Scotland
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618253
A female passenger brought an action of damages for personal injury against a railway company, in which she averred that on her arrival at her destination, which was a terminus, the carriage in which she was seated was not able owing to the length of the train to be brought up opposite the platform, that she and other passengers in the carriage waited a quarter of an hour or thereby, and that as no one appeared to assist them to alight they proceeded to do so themselves, in the course of which the pursuer fell and was injured. She
averred, further, that the stationmaster was on the platform and saw the passengers alighting but gave no instructions.
He: (Diss. Lord Salvesen) that the action was irrelevant.
[1916] SLR 244
Scotland
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618256
A machine-fitter, whose duty it was to go round to various places where his employers had erected or executed repairs upon weighing-machines, was engaged in inspecting railway weighing-machines. To one of the machines he proceeded to walk upon a road rendered slippery by frost after rain. While endeavouring to avoid a vehicle he slipped and fell, breaking his wrist. Held ( diss. Lord Mackenzie) that the injury was caused by accident arising out of as well as in the course of the employment.
[1915] SLR 122
Scotland
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618254
Justice Martin Spencer
[2018] EWHC 1289 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.617220
[2018] ScotCS CSIH – 36
Scotland
Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.616861
[2018] ScotCS CSOH – 57
Scotland
Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.616867
The claimant had been very severely injured when knocked from his cycle by the defendant’s car. He had come out onto the roadway at night but without cycle lights, and into the path of the car. The claimant was not wearing a helmet.
Held: Smith v Finch was applied to say that a cyclist not wearing a helmet runs the risk of contributing to his injuries: ‘the literature establishes that cycle helmets are generally beneficial in head injury cases. It is clear that a properly designed helmet worn by a cyclist at speeds of up to 12mph who falls 1.5 metres and hits his head on the pavement is afforded a high level of protection . . the potential benefit of helmets is not limited simply to cases of mild injury but may include cases of severe head injury’ The claimant’s damages should be reduced by one third.
Wilcox J
[2011] EWHC 363 (QB)
England and Wales
Cited – Froom v Butcher CA 21-Jul-1975
The court asked what reduction if any should be made to a plaintiff’s damages where injuries were caused not only by the defendant’s negligent driving but also by the failure of the plaintiff to wear a seat belt. It had been submitted that, since . .
Cited – Smith v Finch QBD 22-Jan-2009
The claimant cyclist was severely injured in an accident when hit by a motorcyclist, the defendant. He was not wearing a cycle helmet, and the injuries were to his head. He was slowing down to turn right, and was hit a heavy glancing blow by the . .
Appeal from – Phethean-Hubble v Coles CA 21-Mar-2012
The claimant cyclist suffered serious injury in a collision with a car driven by the defendant. The defendant appealed against a finding that he was two thirds responsible. The case for the injured cyclist was that the motorist was going too fast. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.430055
MacDuff J
[2011] EWHC 852 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.432862
Yip DBE J
[2018] EWHC 1007 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.614890
The measure of damages in respect of additional housing costs necessitated by a plaintiff’s injuries is the additional cost over his lifetime of providing that accommodation. As regards the discount to be applied for the immediate receipt of funds to represent future losses, the court adopted the figure of two per cent because ‘a tax-free yield of two per cent in risk free investment would not be a wholly unacceptable one.’
Stocker LJ
[1989] 1 QB 878
England and Wales
Cited – B and B v A County Council CA 21-Nov-2006
The claimants sought damages from the defendant local authority after their identities had been wrongfully revealed to the natural parents of the adoptees leading to a claimed campaign of harassment. The adopters has specifically requested that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.246343
The pursuer claimed that her obstetrician had been negligent, after her son suffered severe injury at birth. The baby faced a birth with shoulder dystocia – the inability of the shoulders to pass through the pelvis. The consultant considered that a vaginal birth was preferable and did not given advice as to the risks involved. The negligence alleged was in the failing to discuss the risks properly.
Held: The appeal was allowed.
‘Since Sidaway . . it has become increasingly clear that the paradigm of the doctor-patient relationship implicit in the speeches in that case has ceased to reflect the reality and complexity of the way in which healthcare services are provided, or the way in which the providers and recipients of such services view their relationship. One development which is particularly significant in the present context is that patients are now widely regarded as persons holding rights, rather than as the passive recipients of the care of the medical profession. They are also widely treated as consumers exercising choices: a viewpoint which has underpinned some of the developments in the provision of healthcare services. In addition, a wider range of healthcare professionals now provide treatment and advice of one kind or another to members of the public, either as individuals, or as members of a team drawn from different professional backgrounds (with the consequence that, although this judgment is concerned particularly with doctors, it is also relevant, mutatis mutandis, to other healthcare providers). The treatment which they can offer is now understood to depend not only upon their clinical judgment, but upon bureaucratic decisions as to such matters as resource allocation, cost-containment and hospital administration: decisions which are taken by non-medical professionals. Such decisions are generally understood within a framework of institutional rather than personal responsibilities, and are in principle susceptible to challenge under public law rather than, or in addition to, the law of delict or tort. ‘
‘the analysis of the law by the majority in Sidaway is unsatisfactory, in so far as it treated the doctor’s duty to advise her patient of the risks of proposed treatment as falling within the scope of the Bolam test, subject to two qualifications of that general principle, neither of which is fundamentally consistent with that test . . An adult person of sound mind is entitled to decide which, if any, of the available forms of treatment to undergo, and her consent must be obtained before treatment interfering with her bodily integrity is undertaken. The doctor is therefore under a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in any recommended treatment, and of any reasonable alternative or variant treatments. The test of materiality is whether, in the circumstances of the particular case, a reasonable person in the patient’s position would be likely to attach significance to the risk, or the doctor is or should reasonably be aware that the particular patient would be likely to attach significance to it. ‘
Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed, Lord Hodge
[2015] UKSC 11, 2015 GWD 10-179, [2015] Med LR 149, 2015 SCLR 315, (2015) 143 BMLR 47, 2015 SLT 189, [2015] 2 WLR 768, [2015] 1 AC 1430, [2015] 2 All ER 1031, [2015] WLR(D) 123, [2015] PIQR P13, UKSC 2013/0136, 2015 SC (UKSC) 63
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC Summary, SC, WLRD
Scotland
At Outer House – Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board SCS 30-Jul-2010
Outer House – The pursuer sought damages for personal injuries to her son at his birth, alleging negligence by the medical staff at the defender hospital. She said that she had been advised a cesarian birth for her child, but the doctors had not . .
Appeal from – NM v Lanarkshire Health Board SCS 23-Jan-2013
Inner House – The pursuer and reclaimer sought reparation for son after grave injury sustained at his birth in a maternity hospital run by the defenders and respondents. She attributes that injury to negligence in a consultant obstetrician. . .
Cited – Criminal proceedings against Lindqvist ECJ 6-Nov-2003
Mrs Lindqvist had set up an internet site for her local parish containing information about some of her colleagues in the parish. She gave names, jobs, hobbies and in one case some of the person’s employment and medical details. The Court decided . .
Cited – Ali And Ayse Duran v Turkey ECHR 8-Apr-2008
‘The requirements of Articles 2 and 3 go beyond the stage of the official investigation, where this has led to the institution of proceedings in the national courts: the proceedings as a whole, including the trial stage, must satisfy the . .
Cited – Patricia Armani Da Silva v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Jul-2012
The claimant’s innocent cousin Jean Charles de Menezes had been shot and killed by police officers seeking a suicide bomber. She had complained that after investigation, no police officer had been prosecuted for any serious offence of murder or . .
Criticised – Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital HL 21-Feb-1985
Explanation of Medical Risks essential
The plaintiff alleged negligence in the failure by a surgeon to disclose or explain to her the risks inherent in the operation which he had advised.
Held: The appeal failed. A mentally competent patient has an absolute right to refuse to . .
Cited – Hunter v Hanley 4-Feb-1955
The pursuer had been injured when the hypodermic needle being used by the defender doctor broke in use. The pursuer said that the direction by the judge as to accepted practice for the use of such needles.
Held: The court considered the . .
Cited – Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee QBD 1957
Professional to use Skilled Persons Ordinary Care
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test . .
Cited – Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority HL 24-Jul-1997
The plaintiff suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result of cardiac arrest induced by respiratory failure as a child whilst at the defendant hospital. A doctor was summoned but failed to attend, and the child suffered cardiac arrest and brain . .
Cited – Pearce and Pearce v United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust CA 20-May-1998
A doctor advised a mother to delay childbirth, but the child was then stillborn. She complained that he should have advised her of the risk of the baby being stillborn.
Held: ‘In a case where it is being alleged that a plaintiff has been . .
Cited – Wyatt v Curtis CA 30-Oct-2003
The first defendant, Dr Curtis, then a locum general practitioner, failed to warn the claimant, Miss Wyatt, who presented with chickenpox, about the consequent risk to her unborn child. It was admitted at trial that this had been negligent. It was . .
Cited – Jones v North West Strategic Health Authority QBD 5-Feb-2010
The claimant, now 17 years old, sought damages alleging negligence by the doctors at his birth. The court now heard as a preliminary issue questions as to the liability of the defendants for the injuries suffered. He said that his mother had not . .
Cited – Chester v Afshar HL 14-Oct-2004
The claimant suffered back pain for which she required neurosurgery. The operation was associated with a 1-2% risk of the cauda equina syndrome, of which she was not warned. She went ahead with the surgery, and suffered that complication. The . .
Cited – Maynard v West Midlands Regional Health Authority HL 1985
The test of professional negligence is the standard of the ordinary skilled man exercising and professing to have that special skill. Lord Scarman said: ‘a doctor who professes to exercise a special skill must exercise the ordinary skill must . .
Cited – Rogers v Whitaker 19-Nov-1992
High Court of Australia – Negligence – Breach of duty – Medical practitioner – Duty to warn of possibility of adverse effect of proposed treatment – Extent of duty.
The patient complained that the doctor when proposing a form of treatment to . .
Cited – Tysiac v Poland ECHR 20-Mar-2007
The applicant alleged that the circumstances of her case had given rise to violations of Article 8 of the Convention. She also relied on Article 3. The applicant further complained under Article 13 that she did not have an effective remedy at her . .
Cited – McColl v Strathclyde Regional Council SCS 29-Jun-1983
The petitioner challenged the decision of the respondents to flouridate the water supply, claiming that it was damaging to her health. Her challenge was on four gounds, namely: (1) ultra vires, (2) nuisance, (3) breach of the Water (Scotland) Act . .
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland HL 4-Feb-1993
Procedures on Withdrawal of Life Support Treatment
The patient had been severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster, and had come to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought permission to withdraw medical treatment. The Official Solicitor appealed against an order of the Court . .
Cited – Rosenberg v Percival 5-Apr-2001
Austlii High Court of Australia – Negligence – Breach of duty – Surgeon’s duty to warn of material risk in proposed surgery – Identification of the material risk – Meaning of material risk.
Negligence – . .
Cited – Glass v The United Kingdom ECHR 9-Mar-2004
The applicant’s adult son was disabled. There was a disagreement with the hospital about his care. The hospital considered that to alleviate his distress, he should not be resuscitated. The family wanted to take him home, fearing euthanasia. The . .
Cited – D G v Ireland ECHR 16-May-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-1; Violation of Art. 5-5; No violation of Art. 3; No separate issue under Art. 8 in respect of lawfulness of detention; No violation of Art. 8 in . .
Cited – A and B, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Health SC 14-Jun-2017
The court was asked: ‘Was it unlawful for the Secretary of State for Health, the respondent, who had power to make provisions for the functioning of the National Health Service in England, to have failed to make a provision which would have enabled . .
Cited – Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland : Abortion) SC 7-Jun-2018
The Commission challenged the compatibility of the NI law relating to banning nearly all abortions with Human Rights Law. It now challenged a decision that it did not have standing to bring the case.
Held: (Lady Hale, Lord Kerr and Lord Wilson . .
Cited – In re D (A Child) SC 26-Sep-2019
D, a young adult had a mild learning disability and other more serious conditions. He was taken into a hospital providing mental health services. The external door was locked, and a declaration was sought to permit this deprivation of his liberty, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 April 2022; Ref: scu.544222
The claimant had been raped by a member of staff at the hotel in Sri Lanka booked through the respondent travel company. She now appealed from dismissal of the claim.
Held: Questions were referred to the ECJ, namely: ‘(1) Where there has been a failure to perform or an improper performance of the obligations arising under the contract of an organizer or retailer with a consumer to provide a package holiday to which Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours applies, and that failure to perform or improper performance is the result of the actions of an employee of a hotel company which is a provider of services to which that contract relates:
(a) is there scope for the application of the defence set out in the second part of the third alinea to article 5(2); and, if so,
(b) by which criteria is the national court to assess whether that defence applies?
(2) Where an organizer or retailer enters into a contract with a consumer to provide a package holiday to which Council Directive 90/314/EEC applies, and where a hotel company provides services to which that contract relates, is an employee of that hotel company himself to be considered a ‘supplier of services’ for the purposes of the defence under article 5(2), third alinea of the Directive?
Lord Kerr, Lord Hodge, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lady Arden, Lord Kitchin
[2019] UKSC 37, UKSC 2018/0102
Bailii, SC, SC Summary, SC Summary Video, SC 2019 May 01 am Video, SC Summary Video, SC 2019 May 01 pm Video
Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 15, Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours 5
England and Wales
Appeal from – X v Kuoni Travel Ltd CA 26-Apr-2018
The claimant sought damages after being sexually assaulted by a hotel worker on her holiday in Sri Lanka. She said that the incident was an improper performance of the contract and in breach of the 1992 Regulations. She appealed from rejection of . .
At first instance – X v Kuoni Travel Ltd QBD 30-Nov-2016
The Claimant, Mrs X, sought damages for personal injury and other losses arising out of a sexual assault (including rape), on 17th July 2010 during a 14 day all-inclusive package holiday which the Claimant had purchased from the Defendant, Kuoni . .
Cited – Meridian Global Funds Management Asia Ltd v The Securities Commission Co PC 26-Jun-1995
(New Zealand) Lord Hofmann said: ‘There is in fact no such thing as the company as such, no ‘ding an sich’, only the applicable rules. To say that a company cannot do something means only that there is no one whose doing of that act would, under the . .
Cited – Tesco Supermarkets Ltd v Nattrass HL 31-Mar-1971
Identification of Company’s Directing Mind
In a prosecution under the 1968 Act, the court discussed how to identify the directing mind and will of a company, and whether employees remained liable when proper instructions had been given to those in charge of a local store.
Held: ‘In the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 April 2022; Ref: scu.640089
[1908] SLR 191
Coal Mines Regulation Act 1887
Scotland
Cited – Campbell v Gordon SC 6-Jul-2016
The employee was injured at work, but in a way excluded from the employers insurance cover. He now sought to make the sole company director liable, hoping in term to take action against the director’s insurance brokers for negligence, the director . .
At SCS – Butler (or Black) v Fife Coal Co, Ltd HL 19-Dec-1911
The court considered whether a civil remedy existed for breach of statutory duty. Lord Kinnear said: ‘If the duty be established, I do not think there is any serious question as to civil liability. There is no reasonable ground for maintaining that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 April 2022; Ref: scu.610812
A checker was run over and killed while engaged in checking waggons on railway sidings. His widow raised an action of damages against the railway company for the loss of her husband, and obtained a verdict. This verdict was set aside on the ground that there was contributory negligence on the part of the deceased. At the new trial the evidence was practically the same as at the first trial, and the pursuer again obtained a verdict. The defenders were granted a rule.
Held: The Court set aside the second verdict on the same ground on which they had set aside the first verdict and granted a third trial.
[1904] SLR 42 – 165
Scotland
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.610098
A court may make an interim award of damages against the Motor Insurer’s Bureau irrespective of whether the Bureau or some insurer would be obliged to find the money.
Gazette 17-Mar-1999, [1999] 1 WLR 195
England and Wales
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.89197
[2018] ScotCS CSIH – 31
Scotland
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609372
[2018] ScotCS CSOH – 34
Third
Party (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010
Scotland
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609360
[2018] ScotCS CSOH – 37
Scotland
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609366
[2018] ScotCS CSIH – 14
Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003
Scotland
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.609341
Jeremy Baker J
[2018] EWHC 810 (QB), [2018] WLR(D) 226
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.609114
The claimant had been injured in a road accident. The driver of the vehicle was unknown, but the insurer was known. The defendant now applied for the claim to be struck out on the basis that it had been free to avoid the policy ab initio for non-disclosure.
Held: The order stood: ‘the principles set out in Cameron are engaged and that the claimant is prima facie entitled to proceed against the third defendant as an unnamed party. It seems to me that it would be both efficacious and consistent with the overriding objective to allow the claim to go forward in that way. The entitlement of a claimant to proceed against an unnamed driver should not depend on the section 151 liability of the insurer being incontrovertibly established. That would be to draw a somewhat arbitrary distinction between cases where the claimant’s rights rested on section 151 and cases where his rights rested on the Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement / Article 75 (or some combination of the two). It would be arbitrary because both routes offer a remedy of value and both form part of an overall scheme intended to meet the UK’s obligations under the Motor Insurance Directives. Furthermore, given the time limit in section 152(2) and given also the fact that the victim of a road accident cannot know if there are matters that might lead to the avoidance of the insurance covering the vehicle which injured him, at the point of issue and/or service of the Claim Form neither he nor the court can be confident that section 151 will ultimately be engaged.’
[2018] EWHC 738 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.609110
Peter Marquand
[2018] EWHC 205 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.604808
(Bahamas) The Board was asked as to the assessment of damages after a serious assault by police officers.
Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Sumption, Lord Reed, Lord Hughes
[2017] UKPC 15
Commonwealth
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.584363
The claimant sought damages after falling from a window in the house owned by the defendants.
William Davis J
[2015] EWHC 2260 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.550923
Many claimants sought damages for personal injuries after a fire at the defendant’s factory lead to an escape of particulate matter over the area in which they lived.
Jay J
[2015] EWHC 2264 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.550925
The claimant was injured in an accident suffered, he said, when his cycle was thrown off hitting a bump in the road for the maintenance of which the defendant was responsible.
William Davis J
[2015] EWHC 2283 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.550921
The court considered the statutory liability of an insurer to satisfy a judgment obtained against a driver who was not insured by the policy. UK domestic legislation gives the insurer a right of recovery against an insured person who caused or permitted the use of the vehicle. The Claimant argued that this right of recovery is incompatible with his rights as a road accident victim under various EC/EU.
Blair J
[2009] EWHC 1297 (QB), [2009] 3 CMLR 33, [2009] PIQR P20, [2010] 1 All ER 198
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.346902
The parties asked as to whether after a car accident in France the the assessment of damages and the calculation of pre-judgment interest was to be calculated according to French law.
Blair J
[2009] EWHC 38 (QB)
England and Wales
Cited – Knight v Axa Assurances QBD 24-Jul-2009
The claimant was injured in a car accident in France. The defendant insurer said that the quantification of damages was to be according to French law and the calculation of interest also. The claimant said that English law applied.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.280153
The court gave guidance on when an injury passes from being de minimis to being sufficiently significant to found a cause of action: ‘there is from the beginning some injury occurring from day to day, as each of the minute particles which enter the lung tissue causes some microscopic injury and permanent scarring, but a reasonable application of the de minimis rule postpones the first damage for legal purposes to the point at which the accumulated scarring is sufficient to diminish appreciably the elasticity of the lungs and deprive them of much of their reserve capacity; that point is not likely to be reached for several years, and may not be reached for many years, but when it is reached there is the damage completing the cause of action . . ‘
Pearson LJ
[1962] 1 QB 189
England and Wales
Cited – Rothwell v Chemical and Insulating Co Ltd and Another CA 26-Jan-2006
Each claimant sought damages after being exposed to asbestos dust. The defendants resisted saying that the injury alleged, the development of pleural plaques, was yet insufficient as damage to found a claim.
Held: (Smith LJ dissenting) The . .
Appeal from – Cartledge v E Jopling and Sons Ltd HL 1963
The plaintiffs were steel dressers who, in the course of their employment, had inhaled quantities of noxious dust which had caused them to suffer from pneumoconiosis. They issued proceedings on 1 October 1956 but were unable to show any breach of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.238190
[2000] EWCA Civ 390
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.218705
The claimant was the wife of a former employee of the defendant. She claimed that having cleaned asbestos dust from her husband’s clothes on his return home from work, she had herself suffered asbestosis.
Held: The risks were known at the time, and the defendant had not done what could have been done to control those risks. It was foreseeable that someone in the claimant’s position would suffer by way of secondary exposure, and the claim succeeded.
Morland J
Times 26-Mar-2004
England and Wales
Appeal from – Maguire v Harland and Wolff Plc and Another CA 26-Jan-2005
The claimant was a wife who had been exposed to asbestos dust when washing the clothes of her husband who had worked with asbestos for the defendants. She died of mesothelioma. His employer appealed an award of damages to her.
Held: Courts . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.196579
The applicant sought compensation after an assault by a member of the family with whom he was being fostered.
Held: The Compensation scheme disallowed a claim in respect of an assault by a member of the victim’s family. Under the fostering regulations, the arrangement was intended to allow him to live with the fostering family as a member of that family. The issue was one of legal interpretation, not of blood ties. The claim failed.
Newman J
Times 08-Jul-2004
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.199254
After a delay of delay 5 years, the judge deducted two years interest from the award to reflect the plaintiff’s delay.
Latham J
Times 30-Mar-2000, [2000] PIQR Q263
England and Wales
Applied – Wells v Wells; Thomas v Brighton Health Authority; etc HL 16-Jul-1998
In each of three cases, the plaintiffs had suffered serious injury. They complained that the court had made a substantial reduction of their damages award for loss of future earnings and the costs of future care.
Held: The appeals succeeded. . .
Appeal from – Barry v Ablerex Construction (Midlands) Ltd CA 30-Mar-2001
It was appropriate to reduce the interest discount rate used to calculate damages awards in personal injury cases for future losses, from 3 per cent to 2 per cent. This reflected the general reduction in such interest rates since the Act came into . .
Cited – Eagle (By Her Litigation Friend) v Chambers CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimant had been severely injured, and a substantial damages award made. Cross appeals were heard as to the several elements awarded. The claimant sought as part of her award of damages for personal injuries the fees she would have to pay to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.200640
The claimant sought damages, having been injured at a school sports day. The school had carried out a risk asessment and acknowledged a risk of injury.
Held: Not every risk identified could or should be controlled. The injury occurred whilst in fact the child was in the care of his mother. It did not arise from any lack of supervision. Common sense said this was an accident to which liability should not attach.
Gross J
Times 09-Oct-2003, Gazette 16-Oct-2003
England and Wales
Cited – Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council and others HL 31-Jul-2003
The claimant dived into a lake, severely injuring himself. The council appealed liability, arguing that it owed him no duty of care under the Act since he was a trespasser. It had placed warning signs to deter swimmers.
Held: The council’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.186970
The court gave directions revising the arrangements for the disposal of the actions referred to.
Times 16-Oct-2003
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.187016
The defendant fishing boat operator appealed against a finding of liability in negligence in not having provided a single chamber life-jacket to the plaintiff. He said that at the time of the accident in 1994, it was not standard to provide them.
Bingham LCJ
[1999] EWCA Civ 1887
England and Wales
Cited – Morris v West Hartlepool Steam Navigation HL 1956
The ship had followed a practice of leaving the between deck hatch covers off in the absence of a guard rail around the hatchway. The plaintiff seaman fell into the hold. There was evidence that on this ship it was quite usual for men to be sent . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.146802
Application for leave to appeal. The claimant sought damages for personal injury after being forcibly evicted from the defendants shop.
[1999] EWCA Civ 1503
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.146418
(St. Lucia) The plaintiff claimed damages for personal injuries. The defendant wished to allege that she had failed to mitigate her damages by accepting medical treatment.
Held: If the plaintiff refused treatment, it was for the defendant to show that the refusal was unreasonable. A defendant wishing to make such an assertion must give proper notice of that intention either in the pleadings, or in correspondence.
Bingham, Steyn, Hobhouse, Millett, Scott LL
Times 16-Oct-2002, [2002] UKPC 48
England and Wales
Cited – Selvanayagam v University of the West Indies PC 14-Feb-1983
(Trinidad and Tobago) Having claimed damages for a personal injury, the plaintiff refused a curative operation. As a diabetic he said he faced additional risks.
Held: A plaintiff who rejects medical advice to undergo treatment must discharge a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.177448
Benefits which might be payable or recoverable in respect of damages should not be disregarded when the court considers what elements are to be allowed interest when calculating personal injury damages.
Times 02-Dec-1998
England and Wales
Appealed to – Wisely v John Fulton Plumbers Ltd (Scotland) and Wadey v Surrey County Council HL 6-Apr-2000
A plaintiff in a personal injury action, was entitled to claim, and be paid, interest on his award for compensation for lost earnings, even though some part of it was to be paid direct to the Department of Social Security by way of recovery of . .
Appeal from – Wisely v John Fulton Plumbers Ltd (Scotland) and Wadey v Surrey County Council HL 6-Apr-2000
A plaintiff in a personal injury action, was entitled to claim, and be paid, interest on his award for compensation for lost earnings, even though some part of it was to be paid direct to the Department of Social Security by way of recovery of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.90577
A nurse uses her own professional judgement on lifting; the employer hospital was not liable for injury.
Times 05-Nov-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.90597
Where assessing if deceased was engaged in a joint criminal enterprise in joy-riding, the court should make allowance for the context of an island community where such behaviour though criminal would not have been serious
Times 24-Sep-1998
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.89746
The board must consider if the claimant’s willingness to become involved in a fight should lead to diminished or nil award, and must state the extent of contributory responsibility when setting a nil award.
Independent 14-Jan-1994, Times 05-Jan-1994
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86483
The distinction made in the tariff of injuries in the Act, between ‘full recovery’ and ‘continuing disability’ referred not to the general condition of the claimant, but rather to the state of the limb in question. The real distinction was between the words ‘full’ and ‘continuing’. A remaining observable loss of function indicated continuing disability.
Times 15-Aug-2000
Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86470
The test for claiming damage for nervous shock is different in Criminal Injuries Compensation Board cases. The standard required is the direct attributability of the injury. A friendship was sufficient to found a claim damages for the shock of finding a murdered friend.
Times 11-Aug-1994, Independent 22-Jul-1994
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86476
Criminal Injury Compensation Board’s refusal to pay for delay in complaint of rape did not allow for the cause of the delay and was wrong.
Independent 28-Mar-1995
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86481
Delay by a victim of sexual abuse was to be expected, and was no reason to reject a claim.
Times 18-Apr-1995
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86380
Repetitive Strain Injury is not a sufficiently well recognised medical condition to found an action.
Times 10-Nov-1993, Independent 02-Nov-1993
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85642
Although normal rule in medical negligence cases was that a plaintiff’s experts’ reports should be disclosed first, some circumstances would justify order for simultaneous disclosure. Usual rule is designed to save duplication of effort and to save costs.
Times 06-Jul-1998
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85679
The applicant claimed an award for physical and mental symptoms suffered after being the victim of a consensual buggery whilst under the age of consent. For a child of twelve or thirteen, and such act would inevitably lead to such damages. The apparent consent must be disregarded, and the act was a crime of violence.
Gazette 27-Jul-2000, Times 01-Aug-2000
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85206
The practice of withholding the reasons for a decision until the day of an appeal which had come to be adopted was unfair and bad administration. The Tribunal should give proper reasons for its decision, together with the gist of any evidence which they had taken into account in coming to that decision. Such a system had caused unnecessary expense, and caused litigation rather than prevented it.
Times 12-Oct-2000, [2001] ACD 76
Cited – Regina on Application of M v Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel Admn 31-Aug-2001
The complainant had suffered repeated acts of sexual abuse as a child including acts of penetration. She sought compensation under the scheme, but was initially refused on the basis that it was not a crime of violence, then later awarded pounds . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85208
Directions given for future conduct of all personal injury cases alleging damage caused through use of organophosphates in sheep dips. Cases to be commenced in central office Queen’s Bench Division, and existing cases transferred there, for Master Miller.
Times 31-Dec-1998
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84906
Updating the first practice direction for such actions, all proceedings not already transferred should now be moved to the Newcastle upon Tyne District Registry, and applications for transfer made as soon as possible, and new claims should be commenced in that registry. All such matters should be assigned to Mrs Justice Janet Smith for all interim applications.
Times 05-Aug-1999
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84903
Directions were given for the conduct of all the cases brought together as group actions under the above references, including for the transfer of them all to Royal Courts of Justice, for the commencement of future proceedings, the marking of all documents, and the assignment of Master Rose and Justice Buckley to hear issues arising.
Times 26-Nov-1999
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84907
Damages were awarded (1st time) against a father for the sexual abuse of his children.
Independent 12-Nov-1993
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84517
Where negligent advice lead to the birth of a disabled child who would not otherwise have been conceived, the damages to be awarded could include the costs of educating and otherwise caring for the child beyond the age of eighteen. Such duties did not finish with the end of legal responsibility.
Times 26-Nov-1999, Gazette 25-Nov-1999
Applied – Allen v Bloomsbury Health Authority 1993
The plaintiff sought damages after a failed sterilisation. She had been apprehensive during the pregnancy that the child might be handicapped, and in the event the child suffered from temper tantrums, a speech defect and slight dyslexia.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84388
Given the reduction in levels of interest on government index-linked stocks, and the assumed rate of return for the purposes of the assumed rate of return, the committee would continue to fix the return rate rather than set a method of calculation.
Times 03-May-1999
Cited – Wells v Wells; Thomas v Brighton Health Authority; etc HL 16-Jul-1998
In each of three cases, the plaintiffs had suffered serious injury. They complained that the court had made a substantial reduction of their damages award for loss of future earnings and the costs of future care.
Held: The appeals succeeded. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84431
It was possible in rare cases for multiple sclerosis to be contracted following a severe trauma to the head. Such a trauma can cause a breach of the blood brain barrier and demyelination with a consequence of multiple sclerosis. Though still not universally accepted as an explanation, the possibility of such a condition could not now be denied.
Times 06-Feb-2001
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84310
Court making personal injury damages award must identify each element of award against statutory criteria for recoupment of benefits.
Times 28-Jan-1998
Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 15(2)
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83774
Where there had been an unconscionable delay in the prosecution of an action, the defendant could show sufficient to show prejudice where an intervening change in the benefits recoupment regulations very substantially increased the amounts payable.
Times 11-Dec-1998, Gazette 13-Jan-1999
Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83507
Evidence of ’employment consultant’ was inadmissible as to Plaintiff’s ability to work.
Gazette 28-Oct-1992
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.82952
A flagstone being laid by a council employee was held to be ‘equipment provided by his employer for the purposes of the employer’s business’ under the 1969 Act. An employer is liable for the defective equipment he provides. What is equipment will vary according to the work. A flagstone was equipment to a road flagger.
Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle
Ind Summary 15-Nov-1993, Times 15-Oct-1993, [1994] ICR 243, [1993] 1 WLR 1428, [1993] 4 All ER 321, 91 LGR 629, [1993] IRLR 568, [1994] 1 Lloyd’ds Rep 11, [1994] PIQR P8, (1993) 143 NLJ 1479
Employer’s Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969
England and Wales
Appeal From – Knowles v Liverpool City Council CA 2-Jul-1992
A flagstone handled by an employee was equipment for purposes of the Act. . .
Unhelpful – Haigh v Charles W Ireland Ltd HL 1974
. .
Cited – Spencer-Franks v Kellogg Brown and Root Ltd and others HL 2-Jul-2008
The deceased worked for the defendants on an oil rig. He was injured by a door closer he was attempting to repair. The defendants denied that the mechanism was equipment within the Regulations.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The door closer was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.82823
The applicant had to show that her injuries arose from the use of a ‘hand held vibrating tool.’ The tool did not itself vibrate, but its use involved resting her hands on a vibrating surface, so as to cause the tool to vibrate. She came to suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome.
Held: The source of the vibration was not crucial to the claim, and therefore it succeeded.
Times 02-Feb-2001
Social Security (Industrial Injuries) (Prescribed Diseases) Regulations 1985 No 967, Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992
England and Wales
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.82491
Policy considerations meant that a person who injured themselves, could not be liable in negligence to third parties who suffered psychiatric injury having seen the incident. A fireman came to the rescue, by co-incidence, of his own son. As a rescuer, he was not owed a duty of care, and his relationship as father could not change that. To allow actions by relations in such circumstances would in general tend to encourage undesirable litigation, and encourage family strife.
Times 06-Jun-2000, Gazette 15-Jun-2000
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81001
A Football club was not liable in damages for an injury caused to a police constable from a player on the pitch side.
Times 22-Nov-1996
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.80837
Trained rescuers have to be assumed to have a higher distress threshold because of their training and experience, and if a claim for psychiatric injury is to be made out, they must show some exceptional and particular situation to justify the claim.
Times 03-Jul-1995
Appeal from – Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and Others CA 31-Oct-1996
The distinction normally made between primary and secondary victims claiming damages for shock in witnessing a terrible event does not apply to employees who were obliged by their contract to be present. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.80694
A party, defending a personal injury claim, who wished to assert that the plaintiff was malingering, must accept that this is akin to an allegation of fraud, and it must be specifically pleaded. It should not be for the Plaintiff to trawl through the expert reports, filed by the defendant, to discover such allegations.
Times 08-Feb-1999
Rules of the Supreme Court Order 18 r 8(1)(a)
England and Wales
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.79482
andpound;3500 damages for 7cm scar to baby girl caused in caesarean operation.
Gazette 01-Nov-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.78066
Liability under the Act for a defective product was established where the defect was known, even though the current state of knowledge did not make it possible to identify which of the products was affected. The Act was to be construed to be consistent with the Directive. If the level of safety was below the level consumers could properly expect, the product was defective, and the supplier liable, even though there might be nothing which could be done. The consumer’s legitimate expectation was for safety. The intention of the Directive was to eliminate the need for a complainant to have to prove fault.
Times 04-Apr-2001, [2001] EWHC QB 446, (2001) 65 BMLR 1
Consumer Protection Act 1987 2, Product Liability Directive (85/374/EEC)
England and Wales
Cited – Smedleys Limited v Breed HL 1974
The defendant company had sold a can of peas. A caterpillar was found in it.
Held: Despite having shown that they had taken all reasonable care, the defendant was guilty of selling food not to the standard required. The defence under the Act . .
Cited – Morris v West Hartlepool Steam Navigation HL 1956
The ship had followed a practice of leaving the between deck hatch covers off in the absence of a guard rail around the hatchway. The plaintiff seaman fell into the hold. There was evidence that on this ship it was quite usual for men to be sent . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.77569
The plaintiff appealed against dismissal of his claim for damages for personal injury suffered on a machine at his work.
Sir John Donaldson MR, Oliver, Robet Goff LJJ
[1984] EWCA Civ 4, [1985] ICR 155
England and Wales
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.258754
The defendant company appealed against an award for personal injuries, saying that the judgment had been obtained through fundamental dishonesty.
Held: The appeal failed.
Yip J DBE
[2018] EWHC 812 (QB)
Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 57
England and Wales
Updated: 07 April 2022; Ref: scu.608677
[2018] EWHC 716 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 07 April 2022; Ref: scu.608381
Cook M
[2018] EWHC 726 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 07 April 2022; Ref: scu.608280
The pursuer sought damages after being injured slipping from a pipe whilst working for the defendants on an oil barge in Norway.
[2008] ScotCS CSOH – 141
Scotland
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.276682
[2019] EWHC 202 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.633239
The Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906, by Sched. I, sec. 16, provides that in a review of a weekly payment ‘where the workman was at the date of the accident under twenty-one years of age and the review takes place more than twelve months after the accident, the amount of the weekly payment may be increased to any amount not exceeding fifty per cent. of the weekly sum which the workman would probably have been earning at the date of the review if he had remained uninjured, but not in any case exceeding one pound.’
Held that the amount of the probable earnings must be estimated by the arbiter in the exercise of his discretion, and need not be restricted to earnings which the workman would have obtained had he continued under the same employer.
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Macnaghten, James of Hereford, and Collins
[1910] UKHL 697, 48 SLR 697
Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.619796
Three workmen, a father and two sons, were killed by the same accident. The widowed mother and her surviving children sought for compensation in respect of all three deaths. The sons’ wages, together with the father’s, had formed one common fund out of which the household was maintained.
Held that compensation was payable in respect of all three deaths.
Observed that compensation may competently be awarded up to the maximum of pounds 300 although the dependancy be only partial.
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Macnaghten, Collins, and Shaw
[1910] UKHL 881, 47 SLR 881
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.619781
[2018] EWHC 580 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.606879
Claim for damages for personal injury, loss and damage sustained during the course of employment at the defendant’s Royal Opera House as a musician.
Held: The claim succeeded.
[2018] EWHC 687 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.606878
[2017] EWCA Civ 1992
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.606465