Category: Personal Injury

Kinnear and Others v Falconfilms Nv and Others: QBD 27 Jan 1994

The deceased had died in an accident whilst filming in Spain for the defendants. The plaintiff personal representatives sought damages here, while the defendants denied that the court had jurisdiction under the 1968 Convention, and said that the death actually occurred as a consequence of the negligence of his medical treatment in Spain.

Judges:

Phillips J

Citations:

[1994] EWHC QB 1, [1996] 1 WLR 920, [1994] ILPr 731, [1994] 3 All ER 42

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Brussels Convention on Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments 1968, Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 1, Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982

Citing:

Cited – Haqen v Zeehaqhe ECJ 1990
ECJ ‘Article 6(2) makes provision for a special jurisdiction, which the Plaintiff may choose because of the existence, in clearly defined situations, of a particularly close connecting factor between a dispute . .
Cited – Somafer Sa v Saar-Ferngas Ag ECJ 22-Nov-1978
ECJ 1. The Convention of 27 September 1968 must be interpreted having regard both to its principles and objectives and to its relationship with the treaty. The question whether the words and concepts used in the . .
Cited – Kalfelis v Bankhaus Schroder, Munchmeyer, Hengst and Co and others ECJ 27-Sep-1988
ECJ For Article 6(1) of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters to apply, a connection must exist between the various actions brought . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Jurisdiction, Personal Injury

Updated: 11 August 2022; Ref: scu.383805

Newman v Whitbread Plc: CA 26 Feb 2001

The claimant sought damages after falling down stairs at work. She said that the stairway did not comply with the British Standards in breach of the Regulations. The employer responded that the non-compliance was merely techical, and could not have affected the accident. The employer appealed saying that the judge had taken a point unargued in the pleadings.
Held: The court applied the test in Waghorn to ask whether the defendants would have argued their case differently if the point had been pleaded. They would have done so. It was now not proper to call for a re-trial. The appeal succeeded.

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 326

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 5(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Waghorn v Wimpey (George) and Co 1969
The plaintiff pleaded that he slipped on a bank, but the evidence was that he slipped on a path.
Held: The variation in the case presented from that pleaded was fatal to the case. The court considered such variations: ‘In the present case Mr . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Litigation Practice

Updated: 09 August 2022; Ref: scu.218005

Nurse v Morganite Crucible Ltd: HL 1989

The House considered what was meant by the term ‘process’ in the Act and the Regulations. The point of law certified was ‘Whether for the purposes of the Factories Act 1961 and Regulations thereunder ‘process’ carried on in a factory means a manufacturing process or other continuous and regular activity carried on as a normal part of the operation of the factory.’
Held: The word ‘process’ used in its broad sense meant any operation or series of operations of more than minimal duration, which had some degree of continuity or repetition of a series of acts.
Lord Griffiths said: ‘My Lords, I am not prepared to answer the question in this form because the word ‘process’ is scattered throughout many sections of the 1961 Act, and it appears in many regulations made thereunder. Your Lordships have not had the opportunity to consider the meaning to be attached to ‘process’ wherever it appears and it is possible that it has different meanings in different contexts. I would confine my opinion to the meaning of the word ‘process’ where it is used in the 1969 Regulations and I would answer the certified question by saying that where the word ‘process’ is used in the Regulations it means any operation or series of operations being an activity of more than a minimal duration.’

Judges:

Lord Griffiths

Citations:

[1989] AC 692, [1989] 1 All ER 113

Statutes:

Factories Act 1961 76(1), Asbestos Regulations 1969

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – McDonald v National Grid Electricity Transmission Plc SC 22-Oct-2014
Contact visiting plants supported asbestos claim
The deceased had worked as a lorry driver regularly collecting pulverized fuel ash from a power station. On his visits he was at areas with asbestos dust. He came to die from mesothelioma. His widow now pursued his claim that the respondent had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health and Safety, Personal Injury

Updated: 08 August 2022; Ref: scu.538242

Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc: SC 2 Mar 2016

The claimant had been assaulted and racially abused as he left a kiosk at the respondent’s petrol station by a member of staff. A manager had tried to dissuade the assailant, and the claim for damages against the supermarket had failed at first instance and at the court of appeal.
Held: The appeal was allowed.
Lord Toulson said: ‘In the simplest terms, the court has to consider two matters. The first question is what functions or ‘field of activities’ have been entrusted by the employer to the employee, or, in everyday language, what was the nature of his job. As has been emphasised in several cases, this question must be addressed broadly . . Secondly, the court must decide whether there was sufficient connection between the position in which he was employed and his wrongful conduct to make it right for the employer to be held liable under the principle of social justice which goes back to Holt. To try to measure the closeness of connection, as it were, on a scale of 1 to 10, would be a forlorn exercise and, what is more, it would miss the point. The cases in which the necessary connection has been found for Holt’s principle to be applied are cases in which the employee used or misused the position entrusted to him in a way which injured the third party.’
And, applying the Bazley case: ‘ (a); an opportunity to assault was afforded. That in itself is not sufficient, and in this instance it did not involve an abuse of power. (b); the assault did not and could not have furthered the employer’s aims. The situation is different from cases discussed earlier in this judgment. (c); the assault was related to a polite approach and request by the Appellant. The situation was one in which friction, confrontation or intimacy was not, in my judgment, inherent. (d); no relevant power was conferred on the employee as regards to the customer. (e); there was no special vulnerability of the applicant in the way that might arise, for example, where a child is in the care of a warden at a home’
Lord Dyson said: ‘The close connection test has now been repeatedly applied by our courts for some 13 years. In my view, it should only be abrogated or refined if a demonstrably better test can be devised. Far from being demonstrably better, the proposed new test is hopelessly vague. What does ‘representative capacity’ mean in this context? And by what criteria is the court to determine the circumstances in which the reasonable observer would consider the employee to be acting in a representative capacity? I do not see how this test is more precise than the close connection test or how it better reflects modern views of justice. The attraction of the close connection test is that it is firmly rooted in justice. It asks whether the employee’s tort is so closely connected with his employment as to make it just to hold the employer liable.’

Judges:

Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Dyson, Lord Reed, Lord Toulson

Citations:

[2016] WLR(D) 109, [2016] UKSC 11, [2016] ICR 485, [2017] 1 All ER 15, [2016] PIQR P11, [2016] 2 WLR 821, [2016] AC 677, [2016] IRLR 362, UKSC 2014/0087

Links:

Bailii Summary, Bailii, WLRD, SC, SC Summary

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Keppel Bus Co v Ahmad PC 20-May-1974
Singapore – The respondent, the plaintiff was a passenger in a bus belonging to the appellants. They employed as conductor of the bus the second defendant. The conductor treated an elderly lady passenger in a high-handed and rude fashion. The . .
Cited – Vasey v Surrey Free Inns Plc CA 5-May-1995
The claimant had been refused entry to the nightclub and in a temper he had kicked the door and damaged glass in it. Employees of the defendants’ nightclub, two employed as doormen, pursued the group of whom the claimant was one, to a public car . .
Applied – Bazley v Curry 17-Jun-1999
(Canadian Supreme Court) The court considerd the doctrine of vicarious liability: ‘The policy purposes underlying the imposition of vicarious liability on employers are served only where the wrong is so connected with the employment that it can be . .
Cited – Fennelly v Connex South Eastern Ltd CA 11-Dec-2000
A ticket inspector, following an altercation with a passenger during which strong words were exchanged, had held the passenger in a headlock. The court had found this to be within the course of his employment so as to make the employer vicariously . .
Cited – Boson v Sandford and Others 1629
A shipper of goods sued the ship owner for damage caused by the negligence of the master. Eyre J held that there was no difference between a land carrier and a water carrier, and therefore the owners were under a special liability as carriers for . .
Cited – Mattis v Pollock (T/A Flamingo’s Nightclub) QBD 24-Oct-2002
The claimant sought damages after being assaulted by a doorman employed by the defendant.
Held: The responsibility of the nightclub owner for the actions of his aggressive doorman was not extinguished by the separation in time and place from . .
Cited – Hern v Nichols 1700
The plaintiff brought an action on the case for deceit, alleging that he bought several parcels of silk under a fraudulent representation by the defendant’s factor that it was another kind of silk. The factor was operating overseas and there was no . .
Cited – Sir Robert Wayland’s Case 1795
Holt CJ said: ‘the master at his peril ought to take care what servant he employs; and it is more reasonable that he should suffer for the cheats of his servant than strangers and tradesmen’. . .
At CA – Mohamud v Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc CA 13-Feb-2014
The court was asked whether the Respondent supermarket was vicariously liable for an assault committed by an employee upon the Appellant. The claimant had been assaulted and injured by the respondent’s employee whilst at a service station. He now . .
Cited – Vaickuviene and Others v J Sainsbury Plc SCS 11-Jul-2013
A Mr Romasov was killed by a fellow employee in a Sainsbury’s supermarket; this fellow employee had, two days earlier, told Mr Romasov that he did not like immigrants and that he should go back to his own country. There was an argument when the . .
Cited – Middleton v Fowler and Others 1795
For the master to be liable the servant’s act had to be within the area of the authority given to him. . .
Cited – Barwick v English Joint Stock Bank 1867
When considering the vicarious liability of a master for the acts of his servant, no sensible distinction could be drawn between the case of fraud and any other wrong. The general rule was that: ‘the master is answerable for every such wrong of the . .
Cited – Mackay and Another v The Commercial Bank of New Brunswick and Others PC 14-Mar-1874
(New Brunswick) It may be generally assumed that, in mercantile transactions, principals do not authorise their agents to act fraudulently, frauds are beyond the agent’s authority in the narrowest sense of which the expression admits; but that so . .
Cited – Houldsworth v City of Glasgow Bank HL 12-Mar-1880
‘an innocent principal was civilly responsible for the fraud of his authorised agent, acting within his authority, to the same extent as if it was his own fraud’. . .
Cited – Lloyd v Grace, Smith and Co HL 1912
Mrs Lloyd delivered the title deeds of her cottages at Ellesmere Port to the solicitors’ managing clerk, who defrauded her.
Held: Vicarious liability can extend to fraudulent acts or omissions if those were carried out in the course of the . .
Cited – Central Motors (Glasgow) Ltd v Cessnock Garage and Motor Co 1925
A night watchman at a garage drove off in a car left there for his own purposes and damaged it.
Held: The garage had delegated to their employee the duty of keeping the car safely secured in the garage and they were liable to the owners of the . .
Cited – Warren v Henlys Ltd 1948
A garage attendant, as an act of personal vengeance, assaulted a customer of the garage. A customer at a petrol station was abused by the attendant as he drove off without paying. The customer then paid. He complained to the police officer he found . .
Cited – Petterson v Royal Oak Hotel Ltd 22-Aug-1947
A barman had refused to serve a drunken customer with more alcohol. As the customer was on his way out of the premises, he threw a glass at the barman which broke in pieces at his feet. The barman picked up a piece of the broken glass and threw it . .
Cited – Deatons Pty Ltd v Flew 12-Dec-1949
(High Court of Australia). A barmaid employed by the appellant threw first the beer from a glass, and then the glass in a customer’s face causing injury. The company appealed a find of vicarious liability.
Held: The act of the barmaid was not . .
Cited – Keppel Bus Co v Ahmad PC 20-May-1974
Singapore – The respondent, the plaintiff was a passenger in a bus belonging to the appellants. They employed as conductor of the bus the second defendant. The conductor treated an elderly lady passenger in a high-handed and rude fashion. The . .
Cited – Rose v Plenty CA 7-Jul-1975
Contrary to his employers orders, a milkman allowed children to assist him in his milkround. One was injured, and sued the milkman’s employer.
Held: The milkman had not gone so far outside the activities for which he was employed for the . .
Cited – Bazley v Curry 17-Jun-1999
(Canadian Supreme Court) The court considerd the doctrine of vicarious liability: ‘The policy purposes underlying the imposition of vicarious liability on employers are served only where the wrong is so connected with the employment that it can be . .
Confirmed – Lister and Others v Hesley Hall Ltd HL 3-May-2001
A school board employed staff to manage a residential school for vulnerable children. The staff committed sexual abuse of the children. The school denied vicarious liability for the acts of the teachers.
Held: ‘Vicarious liability is legal . .
Cited – Dubai Aluminium Company Limited v Salaam and Others HL 5-Dec-2002
Partners Liable for Dishonest Act of Solicitor
A solicitor had been alleged to have acted dishonestly, having assisted in a fraudulent breach of trust by drafting certain documents. Contributions to the damages were sought from his partners.
Held: The acts complained of were so close to . .
Cited – Bernard v The Attorney General of Jamaica PC 7-Oct-2004
PC (Jamaica) The claimant had been queuing for some time to make an overseas phone call at the Post Office. Eventually his turn came, he picked up the phone and dialled. Suddenly a man intervened, announced . .
Cited – Brown v Robinson and Sentry PC 14-Dec-2004
(Jamaica) The deceased claimant had been shot by a sentry employed by the respondent company. His estate appealed a finding that the sentry was not acting in the course of his employment.
Held: Older authorities had now been replaced by recent . .
Cited – Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust HL 12-Jul-2006
Employer can be liable for Managers Harassment
The claimant employee sought damages, saying that he had been bullied by his manager and that bullying amounting to harassment under the 1997 Act. The employer now appealed a finding that it was responsible for a tort committed by a manager, saying . .
Cited – Gravil v Carroll and Another CA 18-Jun-2008
The claimant was injured by an unlawful punch thrown by the first defendant when they played rugby. He sought damages also against the defendant’s club, and now appealed from a finding that they were not vicariously liable. The defendant player’s . .
Cited – Weddall v Barchester Healthcare Ltd CA 24-Jan-2012
Parties appealed against judgments dismissing their claims of vicarious liability as against their employers after assaults by co-employees.
Held: Appeals were dismissed and allowed according to their facts.
In one case, one employee . .
Cited – The Catholic Child Welfare Society and Others v Various Claimants and The Institute of The Brothers of The Christian Schools and Others SC 21-Nov-2012
Law of vicarious liability is on the move
Former children at the children’s homes had sought damages for sexual and physical abuse. The court heard arguments as to the vicarious liability of the Society for abuse caused by a parish priest visiting the school. The Court of Appeal had found . .

Cited by:

Cited – Chell v Tarmac Cement and Lime Ltd CA 12-Jan-2022
Explosive Pellet Use Not Within Employee’s Role.
The claimant worked on a site operated by the respondent. One of the respondent’s employees exploded two pellet targets injuring the claimant’s hearing. He asserted vicarious liability in the respondent. There had been tensions between the claimant . .
Cited – WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc v Various Claimants SC 1-Apr-2020
A disgruntled senior employee had divulged on the internet personal details of several thousand employees. The claimants alleged that that had been a breach of the 1998 Act, and that the appellants were vicariously liable for that wrong. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Vicarious Liability, Personal Injury

Updated: 08 August 2022; Ref: scu.560622

Devoy v William Doxford and Sons Ltd and Others: QBD 21 Jul 2009

Claim on behalf of the estate of her late husband, Alexander Devoy, under the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1934, and on her own behalf as the dependant of the deceased under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1976, for damages arising from his death.

Judges:

His Honour Judge Reddihough

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 1598 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury

Updated: 07 August 2022; Ref: scu.361474

Pratley v Surrey County Council: CA 25 Jul 2003

The claimant sought damages for personal injury namely stress suffered in the course of her work as a care manager. She said that she had been overworked, and suffered depression when a proposal for reducing the work load remained unimplemented. The court at first instance held that the system of working imposed upon the claimant involved a foreseeable risk of injury to her in the long term, but not a foreseeable risk of imminent injury, so her claim failed.
Held: The court set out 16 principles to be looked at when assessing such a claim. ‘There is a potentially relevant distinction between a risk of psychiatric injury arising from continuing overload in the future, and a risk of collapse in the short-term arising from disappointment of a ‘cherished idea’ developed as a result of a conversation about possible problems if there was continuing work overload over a further period. The harm in each case is psychiatric injury, but not only does it occur by quite different mechanisms, more importantly it occurs at quite different times. It follows that the judge was right to consider whether the risk of imminent collapse was foreseeable, which he held was not.’ Buxton LJ: ‘It is not the act but the consequences on which tortious liability is founded. The defendant will be deemed liable for those consequences, not because he has caused them in the course of some careless or otherwise undesirable activity, but only if they were caused by his failure to take precautions against a foreseen or foreseeable and legally relevant danger.’ The appeal failed.

Judges:

Mance LJ, Buxton LJ

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1067, [2004] ICR 159, [2003] IRLR 794, [2004] PIQR P17

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Application for leave – Pratley v Surrey County Council CA 16-Oct-2002
Application for leave to appeal . .
Appeal from – Pratley v Surrey County Council QBD 31-Jul-2002
The claimant sought damages. She had been employed by the respondent in the social services department but came to suffer from stress, and had to give up work.
Held: A claimant in such a position had to do something to make it clear to the . .
Cited – Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Miller Steamship Co Pty (The Wagon Mound) (No 2) PC 25-May-1966
(New South Wales) When considering the need to take steps to avoid injury, the court looked to the nature of defendant’s activity. There was no social value or cost saving in this defendant’s activity. ‘In the present case there was no justification . .

Cited by:

Full Appeal – Pratley v Surrey County Council CA 16-Oct-2002
Application for leave to appeal . .
Appealed to – Pratley v Surrey County Council QBD 31-Jul-2002
The claimant sought damages. She had been employed by the respondent in the social services department but came to suffer from stress, and had to give up work.
Held: A claimant in such a position had to do something to make it clear to the . .
Cited – Banks v Ablex Ltd CA 24-Feb-2005
The claimant appealed denial of her claim for damages for psychological injury. She complained that her employer had failed to prevent her and other female employees being bullied by a co-worker, and they committed a breach of statutory duty in . .
Cited – Hartman v South Essex Mental Health and Community Care NHS Trust etc CA 19-Jan-2005
The court considered the liability of employers for stress injury to several employees.
Held: Though the principles of awarding damages for stress related psychiatric injury are the same as those for physical injury, the issues have still . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.184832

Stokes v Guest Keen and Nettlefold (Nuts and Bolts) Ltd: QBD 1968

An employee had been exposed at work over a long period to mineral oil which, on a daily basis, had saturated his clothing and come into contact with his skin. As a result of this he developed cancer of the scrotum from which he eventually died. The factory had known of the risk of scrotal cancer, had failed to draw the workforce’s attention to the risk and had failed to institute periodic medical examinations of workers exposed to the risk.
Held: The court set down the test of an employer’s duty when knowledge of a risk was developing, the test being that of the reasonable and prudent employer, taking positive thought for the safety of his workers in the light of what he knows or ought to know.
Swanwick J: ‘the overall test is still the conduct of the reasonable and prudent employer, taking positive thought for the safety of his workers in the light of what he knows or ought to know; where there is a recognised and general practice which has been followed for a substantial period in similar circumstances without mishap, he is entitled to follow it, unless in the light of common sense or newer knowledge it is clearly bad; but, where there is developing knowledge, he must keep reasonably abreast of it and not be too slow to apply it; and where he has in fact greater than average knowledge of the risks, he may be thereby obliged to take more than the average or standard precautions. He must weigh up the risk in terms of the likelihood of injury occurring and the potential consequences if it does; and he must balance against this the probable effectiveness of the precautions that can be taken to meet it and the expense and inconvenience they involve. If he is found to have fallen below the standard to be properly expected of a reasonable and prudent employer in these respects, he is negligent.’

Judges:

Swanwick J

Citations:

[1968] 1 WLR 1776

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Dugmore v Swansea NHS Trust and Another CA 21-Nov-2002
The claimant had become sensitive to latex dust while working for the first employer, then suffered an anaphylactic shock when coming into contact with the dust while employed by the second.
Held: The regulations required that ‘every employer . .
Cited – Barber v Somerset County Council HL 1-Apr-2004
A teacher sought damages from his employer after suffering a work related stress breakdown.
Held: The definition of the work expected of him did not justify the demand placed upon him. The employer could have checked up on him during his . .
Cited – Thompson v Smiths Shiprepairers (North Shields) Ltd QBD 1984
The test to be applied in determining the time at which an employer’s failure to provide protection constituted actionable negligence was what would have been done at any particular time by a reasonable and prudent employer who was properly but not . .
Cited – Baker v Quantum Clothing Group Ltd and Others SC 13-Apr-2011
The court was asked as to the liability of employers in the knitting industry for hearing losses suffered by employees before the 1989 Regulations came into effect. The claimant had worked in a factory between 1971 and 2001, sustaining noise induced . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Health and Safety

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.183175

Parry v Clwyd Health Authority: QBD 1996

The court preferred the more objective approach as to looking at when a plaintiff was to be fixed with knowledge of his injury: ‘If the purpose of section 14(3) is to create deemed or constructive knowledge in circumstances where there is no actual knowledge, it is highly improbable that Parliament intended that the application of that subsection should be qualified by taking into account the very characteristic of the plaintiff by reason of which he failed to appreciate the subsection (1) facts known to him and therefore to acquire actual knowledge. For these reasons it would seem that, as a matter of principle, the criteria relevant for the purpose of applying the reasonableness test under subsection (3) should be exclusively objective.’

Judges:

Colman J

Citations:

[1996] PIQR P1

Statutes:

Limitation Act 1980 14(3)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Mirza v Birmingham Health Authority QBD 31-Jul-2001
The claimant had undergone heart surgery as an infant in 1976, and claimed damages for professional negligence. The procedure involved a dangerous procedure, a resection of coarctation. As a consequence, the Claimant suffered a number of problems . .
Cited – Adams v Bracknell Forest Borough Council HL 17-Jun-2004
A attended the defendant’s schools between 1977 and 1988. He had always experienced difficulties with reading and writing and as an adult found those difficulties to be an impediment in his employment. He believed them to be the cause of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Professional Negligence

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.183055

Khela v Pone and Norwest Holst Limited: CA 21 May 1997

The claimant sught to re-instate his personal injury action. It had been struck out under the automatic directions.
Held: The claimant had not satsified the requirement to provide a sufficient reason to make his delay excusable.

Citations:

[1997] EWCA Civ 1742

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Rastin v British Steel Plc, Todd v Evans, Adams v Geest Plc CA 18-Feb-1994
An action which had been automatically struck out, may be re-instated if there had been good cause for the delay. ‘The proper approach to the exercise of any judicial discretion must be governed by the legal context in which the discretion arises.’ . .
Cited – Bannister v SGB Plc and others and 19 Other Appeals CA 25-Apr-1997
Detailed guidance was given as to several different problems of interpretation of Order 17 r 11, dealing with automatic directions. Definitive guidelines were given for the interpretation of automatic directions and strike out provisions in the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Litigation Practice

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.142138

Walker v Northumberland County Council: QBD 16 Nov 1994

The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did not receive the staff or guidance to allow him to do the work asked of him, and he took a second sick leave. He was then dismissed. He sought damages for the employer’s breach of their duty of care.
Held: The employer was liable in negligence for a second work stress induced nervous breakdown. There was no reason in logic why damages should not be recoverable for psychiatric damages, or why the employer should not have a duty to prevent such damage. If a duty of care is established a claimant must then also show that the steps required to deal with it were reasonable in the context, allowing for the resources available, and the risks must be substantial. By the time he returned to work it was reasonably forseeable that further injury would occur, and the authority could not operate policies which would cause injury to its staff, and the court was free to examine such policies. Given the risk, the authority should have taken steps to avoid further injury to the plaintiff.
The standard of care to be expected of a reasonable local authority required that ‘additional assistance should be provided, if not on a permanent basis, at least until restructuring of the social services had been effected and the workload on Mr Walker thereby permanently reduced.’ The assistance should have been provided ‘notwithstanding that it could be expected to have some disruptive effect on the council’s provision of services to the public.’

Judges:

Colman J

Citations:

Times 24-Nov-1994, Independent 18-Nov-1994, [1995] 1 All ER 737, [1995] IRLR 35, [1995] ICR 702, [1994] EWHC QB 2, [1995] PIQR P521

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Considered – Bolton v Stone HL 10-May-1951
The plaintiff was injured by a prodigious and unprecedented hit of a cricket ball over a distance of 100 yards. He claimed damages in negligence.
Held: When looking at the duty of care the court should ask whether the risk was not so remote . .
Cited – Glasgow Corporation v Muir HL 16-Apr-1943
The House considered the proper test to define the standard of care that must be adopted by the reasonable man in a claim for negligence.
Held: Lord Clauson said that the test is whether the person owing the duty of care ‘had in contemplation . .
Cited – Paris v Stepney Borough Council HL 13-Dec-1950
(Reversed) The House considered a breach of a duty of care in respect of a man blinded in one eye, when there would be no breach of duty if his sight had not been impaired.
Held: The claim succeeded because he was known by his employers to . .
Cited – British Railways Board v Herrington HL 16-Feb-1972
Land-owner’s Possible Duty to Trespassers
The plaintiff, a child had gone through a fence onto the railway line, and been badly injured. The Board knew of the broken fence, but argued that they owed no duty to a trespasser.
Held: Whilst a land-owner owes no general duty of care to a . .
Cited – Anns and Others v Merton London Borough Council HL 12-May-1977
The plaintiff bought her apartment, but discovered later that the foundations were defective. The local authority had supervised the compliance with Building Regulations whilst it was being built, but had failed to spot the fault. The authority . .
Cited – Lavis v Kent County Council QBD 18-Feb-1992
The plaintiff had received serious injuries whilst riding his motor cycle at a road junction for which the defendants were responsible. He alleged that they were liable to him for failing to ensure that proper warning signs were placed at the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Barber v Somerset County Council HL 1-Apr-2004
A teacher sought damages from his employer after suffering a work related stress breakdown.
Held: The definition of the work expected of him did not justify the demand placed upon him. The employer could have checked up on him during his . .
Cited – Sutherland v Hatton; Barber v Somerset County Council and similar CA 5-Feb-2002
Defendant employers appealed findings of liability for personal injuries consisting of an employee’s psychiatric illness caused by stress at work.
Held: Employers have a duty to take reasonable care for the safety of their employees. There are . .
Cited – Keen v Tayside Contracts OHCS 26-Feb-2003
The claimant sought damages for post traumatic stress disorder. He was a road worker instructed to attend by the defendant immediately after a terrible accident.
Held: It was a classic case of nervous shock. He was not a rescuer, and nor had . .
Cited – Ringland v South Eastern Education and Library Board QBNI 16-Jun-2004
. .
Mentioned – White, Frost and others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and others HL 3-Dec-1998
No damages for Psychiatric Harm Alone
The House considered claims by police officers who had suffered psychiatric injury after tending the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy.
Held: The general rules restricting the recovery of damages for pure psychiatric harm applied to the . .
Cited – Leach v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary CA 31-Jul-1998
It was arguable that the police owed a duty of care in negligence to a volunteer they called in to act as appropriate adult in harrowing and traumatic police interviews, and who later suffered nervous shock and stress as a result. The claimant had . .
Cited – McLoughlin v Jones; McLoughlin v Grovers (a Firm) CA 2002
In deciding whether a duty of care is established the court must go to the ‘battery of tests which the House of Lords has taught us to use’, namely: ‘. . the ‘purpose’ test (Banque Bruxelles Lambert SA v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd); the ‘assumption . .
Cited – Garrett v Camden London Borough Council CA 16-Mar-2001
The court considered a claim for work related stress. The claimant asserted that he had been harassed, intimidated and systematically undermined: ‘Many, alas, suffer breakdowns and depressive illnesses and a significant proportion could doubtless . .
Cited – Mather v British Telecommunications Plc SCS 30-May-2000
The pursuer sought damages for injury to her mental health, alleging it was sustained as a consequence of the fault of the defenders et separatim the fault of an employee of the defenders. . .
Cited – Rorrison v West Lothian College and Lothian Regional Council OHCS 21-Jul-1999
The pursuer, a nurse, claimed that she suffered psychological injuries as a result of her treatment at work by two superiors.
Held: The court could find nothing in the pleadings: ‘which, if proved, could establish that Andrews and Henning . .
Cited – Green v Argyll and Bute Council SCS 28-Feb-2002
. .
Cited – Laudanska v The University of Abertay ScSf 4-Nov-2003
. .
Cited – Alexander and Others v Midland Bank Plc MCLC 26-Aug-1998
(Mayor’s and City of London Court) In claim for repetitive strain injury for typists in absence of obvious physical damage was on balance not psychosomatic. Plaintiffs could show more than passing pain and discomfort and the scheme of work imposing . .
Cited – Alexander and others v Midland Bank Plc CA 22-Jul-1999
. .
Cited – Gogay v Hertfordshire County Council CA 26-Jul-2000
The employee sought damages for breach of the implied term of trust and confidence, even though she remained throughout the employment of the Council against whom she was bringing proceedings.
Held: Her remaining in employment was a factor . .
Cited – Young v Post Office CA 30-Apr-2002
The claimant had been absent from work with a psychiatric illness. When he returned, the employers intended that he should work at his own pace and continue to do so for as long as he wished. In practice this arrangement was ignored and he worked . .
Cited – Sussex Ambulance NHS Trust v King CA 5-Jul-2002
The claimant was an ambulance worker. He had been assisting carrying a patient down stairs in a chair. He was injured when his colleague lost his grip, and he suddenly bore the full weight of the patient and chair. He alleged that under the . .
Cited – AB X and Y, Regina (on the Application of) v East Sussex County Council and Another Admn 18-Feb-2003
The physical and psychological integrity which the state may in principle be under an obligation to take positive steps to protect under Article 8 included two particularly important concepts. The first was human dignity, the second was the right of . .
Cited – Mensah v West Middlesex University Hospitals and others EAT 1-May-1998
. .
Cited – McDonald or Cross and Another v Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Another SCS 5-Dec-2000
A promising 39-year old executive, was employed in a job in which (because of geographical factors) close day-to-day supervision of his work was impossible. He became ill with depressive illness and killed himself. After the employee had been off . .
Cited – AB and others v Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust QBD 26-Mar-2004
Representative claims were made against the respondents, hospitals, pathologists etc with regard to the removal of organs from deceased children without the informed consent of the parents. They claimed under the tort of wrongful interference.
Cited – MG v North Devon NHS Primary Care Trust QBD 28-Apr-2006
Claim for damages – work induced stress and depression – health visitor. . .
Cited – Angus v Barnet EAT 11-Jul-2000
. .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council; Williams v Southampton Institute; Dawson v Stonham Housing Association EAT 8-Apr-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation
In each case, The employee sought additional damages for non-economic loss after an unfair dismissal.
Held: The Act could be compared with the Discrimination Acts . .
Cited – Marshall Specialist Vehicles Limited v Osborne EAT 29-Apr-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Constructive dismissal . .
Cited – Johnson v Unisys Ltd HL 23-Mar-2001
The claimant contended for a common law remedy covering the same ground as the statutory right available to him under the Employment Rights Act 1996 through the Employment Tribunal system.
Held: The statutory system for compensation for unfair . .
Cited – Mackay v Scottish and Southern Energy Plc ScSf 13-Mar-2000
. .
Cited – Ward v Scotrail Railways Limited SCS 27-Nov-1998
The claimant sought damages from the defender, saying that a co-worker had sexually harrassed her. The behaviour continued after she made a complaint to her employer.
Held: It was conceded that the employee’s conduct was not such as to attract . .
Cited – Campbell v North Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Power Plc SCS 30-Jun-1999
. .
Cited – Young or Logan v Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary NHS Trust SCS 3-Aug-1999
. .
Cited – Fraser v The State Hospitals Board for Scotland OHCS 11-Jul-2000
An employer has a duty to take reasonable care to avoid for his employees unnecessary risk of injury including psychiatric and not merely physical injury, but that duty does not extend to a duty to avoid an employee experiencing unpleasant emotions . .
Cited – Stevenson v East Dunbartonshire Council OHCS 29-Nov-2002
. .
Cited – Salter v UB Frozen Chilled Foods OHCS 25-Jul-2003
The pursuer was involved in an accident at work, where his co-worker died. He suffered only psychiatric injury.
Held: Being directly involved, the pursuer was a primary victim, and accordingly not subject to the limits on claiming for . .
Cited – McRitchie v The Scottish Ministers ScSf 21-Jul-2004
. .
Cited – Flood v The University Court of the University of Glasgow OHCS 8-Jul-2008
The pursuer, a college lecturer claimed damages for stress related injury suffered as a result of overwork. She had communicated with her managers many times about the overload. Other staff had resigned for similar reasons.
Held: The pursuer . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health and Safety, Negligence, Personal Injury

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.90252

Vernon v Bosley (2): CA 29 Mar 1996

The defendant had been driving the plaintiff’s daughters, but negligently caused an accident from which they died. The plaintiff was called to the accident, and claimed to have suffered post traumatic stress. The defendant said that the effect was explainable simply as grief. The defendant appealed against the quantum of damages.
Held: Damages for nervous shock are not to be reduced for irrecoverable normal grief symptoms. Nervous shock, as distinct from grief and other emotional sufferings resulting from bereavement, was a kind of injury which was recognised by the law. Therefore, damages were recoverable for nervous shock caused, or at least contributed to, by actionable negligence of the defendant, even though the illness might also be a pathological consequence of the bereavement which the plaintiff would have inevitably have suffered. Thorpe LJ: Grief constituting pathological grief disorder is a recognizable psychiatric illness and is recoverable.

Judges:

Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Lord Justice Evans and Lord Justice Thorpe

Citations:

Times 04-Apr-1996, [1998] 1 FLR 304, [1997] 1 All ER 577, [1996] EWCA Civ 1310

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Bonnington Castings Ltd v Wardlaw HL 1-Mar-1956
The injury of which the employee complained came from two sources, a pneumatic hammer, in respect of which the employers were not in breach of the relevant Regulations; and swing grinders, in respect of which they were in breach.
Held: It had . .
See Also – Vernon v Bosley QBD 5-Aug-1994
The Judge may impose a schedule for the examination of witnesses if there is a severe overrun of the case at the hearing. . .
See Also – Vernon v Bosley (1) CA 8-Apr-1994
Though the judge had a right to exclude admissible evidence, it remained a balancing exercise which came down to being a matter of his discretion. Evidence might not be admitted which would involve ‘inconvenience, expense, delay or oppression’. The . .
See Also – Vernon v Bosley (1) QBD 1993
The court discussed the extent to which a judge had control over the admission of otherwise admissible evidence: ‘A point comes at which literal admissibility has to yield to the constraints of proportionality . . such proportionality may in any one . .
Cited – Hinz v Berry CA 1970
Then plaintiff saw her husband killed and her children injured by a runaway motor car. At trial she was awarded damages for nervous shock. The question was whether, having regard to the fact that she had suffered sorrow and grief it would not be to . .

Cited by:

See Also – Vernon v Bosley (3) CA 19-Dec-1996
The plaintiff claimed damages for acute stress after failing to rescue his two daughters in an accident caused by the defendant. After the accident, he became involved in family proceedings concerning custody of other children. Medical reports used . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.90155

Veedfald v Arhus Amtskommune: ECJ 10 May 2001

A hospital manufactured and used in its hospitals defective fluid for use in kidney operations. It denied liability under the defective product laws on the basis that it had not put the product into circulation, and that it had not been manufactured for an economic purpose, but rather for supply within the publicly funded health group.
Held: The exemptions under the directive were listed exhaustively, and therefore must be read restrictively. The fact that the patient did not pay directly for the service and that it was funded through taxation did not mean that it was not an economic or business activity, and nor was it charitable. Member states could not restrict the ranges of injury for which damages were recoverable.

Citations:

Times 04-Jun-2001, C-203/99, [2001] EUECJ C-203/99

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Council Directive 85/374/EEC Approximation of laws for liability for defective products.

Jurisdiction:

European

European, Personal Injury, Consumer

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.90138

Re Great Orme Tramways Co: 1934

A claim was made in respect of personal injuries sustained by a passenger when a tram ran out of control. The Company was in insolvent liquidation. A claim for the same amount for the same injuries could be made in contract or in tort.
Held: The unliquidated claim in contract was provable, but not the unliquidated claim in tort.

Citations:

(1934) 50 TLR 450

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In re T and N Ltd and Others, Re Insolvency Act 1986 ChD 14-Dec-2005
The court considered the case of Glenister and similar and said: ‘I accept the submission that these cases are not in point to the issue as regards future asbestos claims. There is no element of discretion as regards such claims. If the ingredients . .
Cited – In Re Berkeley Securities (Property) Ltd ChD 1980
Vinelott J considered the position where tort damages became liquidated by judgment or agreement during the winding-up. He held that in those circumstances the bankruptcy rules imported by section 317 required modification to fit into the scheme of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insolvency, Personal Injury, Contract

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.641426

Willmore v Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council: CA 19 Nov 2009

The defendant had appealed against the award of damages after alleged exposure of the claimant to airborne asbestos whilst a schoolchild. The Council submitted that the judge’s findings of fact were, in enough respects to undermine his conclusion, not supported by the evidence.
Held: The authority’s appeal failed. There was no discernible error either in the judge’s approach to the question whether the claimant’s exposure had been minimal or material, or in his resolution of the question. It has to be remembered that where asbestos is involved, all exposure constitutes a risk of harm. So long as there was evidence capable of justifying his findings, the conclusion that avoidable exposure in the school had made a material contribution to the risk and therefore to the eventual materialisation of the claimant’s illness was an entirely reasonable one.

Judges:

Ward, Sedley, Smith LJJ

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Civ 1211, [2010] ELR 227

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Sienkiewicz v Greif (UK) Ltd; Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willmore SC 9-Mar-2011
The Court considered appeals where defendants challenged the factual basis of findings that they had contributed to the causes of the claimant’s Mesothelioma, and in particular to what extent a court can satisfactorily base conclusions of fact on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.380328

Stanley and Another v Close (T/A Armthorpe Moto Parc): CA 28 Oct 2009

The defendant operated a dirt track motor cycle circuit. The two claimants were injured when they collided on the track. The court had found the marshalling inadequate, and had awarded damages. The defendant now renewed its application for leave to appeal against the award.
Held: The appeal was an attack on the factual conclusions.

Judges:

Sedley LJ

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Civ 1204

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.380341

Maher and Another v Groupama Grand Est: CA 12 Nov 2009

Two English claimants respectively suffered injury in a French road accident. They brought claims for damages against the French insurer of the other driver. Judgment on liability was entered by consent. There were issues as to the assessment of damages and the award of interest.
Held: ‘The existence of a right to recover interest as a head of damage is a matter of French law, being the law applicable to the tort, but whether such a substantive right exists or not, the court has available to it the remedy created by section 35A of the 1981 Act. Having said that, the factors to be taken into account in the exercise of the court’s discretion may well include any relevant provisions of French law relating to the recovery of interest. To that extent I agree with the judge that both English and French law are relevant to the award of interest.’

Judges:

Mummery, Moore-Bick, Etherton LJJ

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Civ 1191, [2010] 1 WLR 1564, [2010] RTR 10, [2009] 2 CLC 852, [2010] 2 All ER 455, [2009] All ER (D) 143

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Directive 2000/26/EC

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – FBTO Schadeverzekeringen v Jack Odenbreit ECJ 13-Dec-2007
ECJ Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 – Jurisdiction in matters relating to insurance – Liability insurance – Action brought by the injured party directly against the insurer – Rule of jurisdiction of the courts for the . .
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 . .

Cited by:

Cited – Cox v Ergo Versicherung Ag CA 25-Jun-2012
The deceased member of the armed forces had died in a road traffic accident in Germany. The parties didputed whether the principles governing the calculation of damages were those in the 1976 Act and UK law, or under German law.
Held: ‘There . .
Cited – Cox v Ergo Versicherung Ag and Another QBD 28-Oct-2011
The deceased died in a road traffic accident whilst serving in the Armed forces in Germany. The driver was insured under German law. The widow now claimed damages in England. She had entered a new relationship.
Held: The object of section 844 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Road Traffic, Insurance, European

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.380326

Anne Margaret Pickford v ICI: CA 2 Aug 1996

A failure to provide guidance to employee resulting in repetitive strain injury. A prescribed disease PDA4 of RSI type was found. The issue was causation not forseeability.

Citations:

Gazette 02-Aug-1996, Gazette 23-Oct-1996

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appealed to – Pickford v Imperial Chemical Industries Plc HL 30-Jun-1998
In the absence of conclusive evidence establishing a cause of a condition, the judge was free to find that causation was not established and that the claim was lost. There was no necessary obligation on an employer to have procedures which might . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Pickford v Imperial Chemical Industries Plc HL 30-Jun-1998
In the absence of conclusive evidence establishing a cause of a condition, the judge was free to find that causation was not established and that the claim was lost. There was no necessary obligation on an employer to have procedures which might . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Health and Safety

Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.77802

Deep Vein Thrombosis and Air Travel Group Litigation: HL 8 Dec 2005

The appellants had suffered deep vein thrombosis whilst travelling on long haul air flights. The defendants said that their liability was limited because the injuries were not accidents.
Held: The claimants’ appeal failed. The definition of accident in Fenton required adjustment in this context: for Convention purposes the ‘loss or hurt’ cannot itself be the ‘accident’. Article 17 distinguishes between the bodily injury on the one hand and the ‘accident’ which was the cause of the bodily injury on the other. It is the cause of the injury that must constitute the ‘accident’. Second, it is important to bear in mind that the ‘unintended and unexpected’ quality of the happening in question must mean ‘unintended and unexpected’ from the viewpoint of the victim of the accident. It cannot be to the point that the happening was not unintended or unexpected by the perpetrator of it or by the person sought to be made responsible for its consequences. It is the injured passenger who must suffer the ‘accident’ and it is from his perspective that the quality of the happening must be considered. There was now a strong international consensus as to the interpretation of the convention.
Baroness Hale of Richmond: ‘Once it is clear that the accident which causes the injury must be something other than the injury itself, it becomes equally clear that the suffering of an internal reaction to an ordinarily uncomfortable journey by air, during which nothing untoward other than that reaction took place, cannot fall within article 17 of the Warsaw Convention. ‘
Lord Mance: ‘The concepts deployed in the Convention are thus autonomous international concepts. The legislative history and travaux preparatoires may be considered to resolve ambiguities or obscurities, when the material is publicly available and points to a definite consensus among delegates. It is also legitimate to have regard to any subsequent practice among the parties which is capable of establishing their agreement regarding interpretation.’
Lord Mance: ‘there was no unexpected or unusual event on board or during embarkation or disembarkation within the useful paraphrase suggested in Saks, however broadly that may be viewed, and that, viewing the matter in the simple terms of article 17 (which is the ultimate test), the situation does not fall within any ordinary or extended conception of ‘accident’.’

Judges:

Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Steyn, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Mance

Citations:

[2005] UKHL 72, Times 12-Dec-2005, (2006) 87 BMLR 1, [2006] 1 All ER 786, [2006] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 231, [2005] 3 WLR 1320, [2006] 1 AC 495, [2005] 2 CLC 1083, [2006] PIQR P14, [2006] 1 All ER (Comm) 313

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Carriage of Air Act 1961 Sch 1 Art 17

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – King v Bristow Helicopters Ltd; Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines HL 28-Feb-2002
Psychiatric Injury under Warsaw Convention
The applicants were passengers who claimed damages for psychiatric injury, after accidents in aircraft.
Held: The Convention created strict liability on air carriers, but explicitly restricted damages to be payable for ‘bodily injury’. That . .
Cited – Sidhu and Others v British Airways Plc; Abnett (Known as Sykes) v Same HL 13-Dec-1996
The claimants had been air passengers who were unlawfully detained in Kuwait, when their plane was captured whilst on the ground on the invasion of Kuwait. They sought damages for that detention.
Held: There are no exceptions to the Warsaw . .
Cited – Fenton v J Thorley and Co Ltd HL 1903
A workman who ruptured himself by an act of over-exertion in trying to turn a wheel was held to have suffered an injury ‘by accident.’ The act of turning the wheel was not in itself an accident. But the injury which the man sustained while carrying . .
Cited – Stag Line v Foscolo, Mango and Company HL 1931
English statutes which give effect to international conventions need to be interpreted with the international origin of the rules well in mind. The Act only applies to contracts of carriage of goods outwards from ports in the United Kingdom, and the . .
Appeal from – In re Deep Vein Thrombosis and Air Travel Group Litigation CA 3-Jul-2003
Passengers on air flights who had suffered deep vein thrombosis through inactivity whilst travelling sought damages.
Held: The claim in its nature was for something unrelated to any particular event. The word ‘accident’ necessitated some sort . .
At first instance – In re Deep Vein Thrombosis and Air Travel Group Litigation QBD 20-Dec-2002
The claimants claimed to have suffered deep vein thrombosis having been sat in cramped conditions for long periods whilst travelling by air. They sought compensation, saying that the failure by the airlines to warn them and take steps to minimise . .
See Also – Deep Vein Thrombosis and Air Travel Group Litigation, Re CA 3-Jul-2002
Group litigation between the appellant passengers and the respondent carriers. Most of the passengers allege that they have suffered deep vein thrombosis leading to serious injury, as a result of travelling in the carriers’ aircraft. In some . .
Cited – Fothergill v Monarch Airlines Ltd HL 10-Jul-1980
The plaintiff, on arriving at the airport found that his luggage had been lost. The defendant denied liability saying he had not notified his claim within the requisite period.
Held: Elementary justice requires that the rules by which 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 – James Buchanan and Co Ltd v Babco Forwarding and Shipping (UK) Ltd HL 1978
A consignment of whisky was stolen whilst on consignemt from a bonded warehouse under CMR terms for Teheran. In bond, it was worth 7,000 pounds, and on export no excise duty was to be paid. Being stolen in the course of transit, excise duty of . .
Cited – Chaudhari v British Airways Plc CA 16-Apr-1997
The passenger injured himself as he fell from an aeroplane chair because of pre-existing injury.
Held: He had no claim under the Convention. The falling of a semi-paralysed person whilst he was trying to get to his feet to go to the lavatory . .
Cited – Swiss Bank Corporation v Brink’s MAT Ltd 1986
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Barclay v British Airways plc CC 27-Feb-2008
(Oxford County Court) The claimant slipped as she boarded an aircraft and sought damages for injuries to her knee. Her claim was brought under the Convention. The defendant denied that the injury occurred as the result of an accident, saying that an . .
Cited – Barclay v British Airways Plc CA 18-Dec-2008
The claimant sought damages for personal injury. The airline said that the injury was not the result of an accident within article 17.1. She was walking down the aisle and slipped.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The meaning of ‘accident’ . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages, Transport

Updated: 04 August 2022; Ref: scu.236381

Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department Ex Parte Fire Brigades Union and Others: QBD 24 May 1994

The Home Secretary was under no duty to bring the new statutory CICB scheme into force on any particular date. He was free to continue to use his own. The court refused to order a judicial review.

Judges:

Staughton LJ and Buckley J

Citations:

Times 30-May-1994, Independent 24-May-1994

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1988 17(1) 108 109 110 8111 112 113 114 115 116 117

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department Ex Parte Fire Brigades Union and Others CA 10-Nov-1994
The Home Secretary’s non-statutory scheme for the compensation for criminal injuries was unlawful pending implementation of the Act. It amounted to an abuse of power. He had power to delay implementing the new Act, with no duty to bring it into . .
At First Instance – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Fire Brigades Union HL 5-Apr-1995
Parliament had passed the 1988 Act which provided for a new Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Instead of implementing the Act, the Home Secretary drew up a non-statutory scheme for a tarriff based system by using prerogative powers. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Judicial Review, Damages

Updated: 03 August 2022; Ref: scu.87741

Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department Ex Parte Fire Brigades Union and Others: CA 10 Nov 1994

The Home Secretary’s non-statutory scheme for the compensation for criminal injuries was unlawful pending implementation of the Act. It amounted to an abuse of power. He had power to delay implementing the new Act, with no duty to bring it into force, but could not in the interim introduce a scheme which differed radically from the scheme whilst the existing Act remained unrepealed.
Hobhouse LJ said that whether or not a provision becomes part of the law of the United Kingdom depends upon whether and when it comes into force: that is what coming into force means. When a statutory provision becomes part of the law of the United Kingdom depends upon what commencement provision Parliament has enacted.

Judges:

Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Morritt LJ, Hobhouse LJ dissenting

Citations:

Times 10-Nov-1994, Independent 10-Nov-1994, [1995] 2 WLR 1

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1988

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department Ex Parte Fire Brigades Union and Others QBD 24-May-1994
The Home Secretary was under no duty to bring the new statutory CICB scheme into force on any particular date. He was free to continue to use his own. The court refused to order a judicial review. . .
Cited – Attorney General v De Keyser’s Royal Hotel Ltd HL 10-May-1920
A hotel had been requisitioned during the war for defence purposes. The owner claimed compensation. The AG argued that the liability to pay compensation had been displaced by statute giving the Crown the necessary powers.
Held: There is an . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Fire Brigades Union HL 5-Apr-1995
Parliament had passed the 1988 Act which provided for a new Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Instead of implementing the Act, the Home Secretary drew up a non-statutory scheme for a tarriff based system by using prerogative powers. The . .
Cited – RM v The Scottish Ministers SC 28-Nov-2012
The pursuer was held in a secure mental hospital. When moved to a highersecurity section, he challenged the move. He lost but then was unable to make an apeal as allowed iunder the 2003 Act because the Scottish Parliament had not created the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Judicial Review, Personal Injury, Constitutional

Updated: 03 August 2022; Ref: scu.87743

M’Kinnon v J and P Hutchison: HL 1 Feb 1916

A seaman while on board his ship at Spezzia was injured by drinking out of a tin which contained caustic soda in solution. The crew were in the habit of putting water supplied by the ship for drinking purposes in places where there was a draught for the purpose of cooling, and this practice was known to the ship’s officers. This tin was in such a place. It belonged to another seaman, who used it for making tea, and wanted it cleaned. It was not found that the tin was supplied by the ship, or was similar to tins so supplied or to the tins used by the crew for drinking water, nor was it found that the officers sanctioned an indiscriminate use of tins or that such use existed, nor that such cooling was necessary.
The arbitrator having found that the accident arose out of and in the course of the seaman’s employment, held that the facts found were insufficient to support his finding in law, and his award set aside.

Judges:

Lord Chancellor (Buckmaster), Lord Atkinson, Lord Shaw, Lord Parker, and Lord Sumner

Citations:

[1916] UKHL 232, 53 SLR 232

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 1(1)

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Personal Injury, Employment

Updated: 03 August 2022; Ref: scu.630673

Simpson v Sinclair: HL 8 Mar 1917

Master and Servant – Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII, cap. 58), sec. 1 (1) – ‘Arising out of’ – Fall of Wall on Adjoining Property upon Roof of Building where Workman Employed.

Citations:

[1917] UKHL 267 – 1, 54 SLR 267 – 1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Personal Injury

Updated: 03 August 2022; Ref: scu.631002

Ward v James: CA 1966

The court rejected the suggestion that greater uniformity in awards of general damages in personal injury actions could be achieved by telling juries of awards in other cases, but instead abolished juries in such cases. Sums awarded are ‘basically a conventional figure derived from experience and from awards in comparable cases’.

Judges:

Lord Denning MR

Citations:

[1966] 1 QB 273

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 31 July 2022; Ref: scu.184738

Quantum Processing Services Co v AXA Insurance UK Plc: CA 15 Dec 2008

The insured had gone cave diving on holiday, and was injured. He assigned his cause of action to the claimant. The insurers declined to pay saying that diving was excluded as a hazardous activity. The claimant appealed against rejection of the claim.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The appeal grounds included in effect appeals as to the facts. However the policy was unclear, and ‘ once the policy is read with scuba diving recognised as a hazardous activity which is covered, then if some particular form of scuba diving or some particular activity whilst scuba diving is not to be covered, that can only be as a result of one or other of the general exclusions applying. It is simply not permissible to construe the cover as covering only that which the insurers have in their own minds identified as a less hazardous form of scuba diving.’

Judges:

Waller VP CA, Thomas, Aikens LJJ

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Civ 1640

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Insurance, Personal Injury

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.372348

Silverlink Trains Ltd v Collins-Williamson: CA 31 Jul 2009

Judges:

Pill LJ, Hooper LJ, Wilson LJ

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Civ 850

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

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.

Personal Injury, Negligence

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.368604

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 claimed against the employers for loss attributable to her husband’s death by suicide.
Held: The claim was dismissed. It was no part of an employer’s duty of care to his workers to prevent a later suicide.

Judges:

Nigel Baker QC

Citations:

[2005] EWHC 895 (QB), [2006] PIQR P11

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1976

Cited by:

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 . .
At first Instance – 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.

Personal Injury, Negligence

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.347405

Ministry of Defence v Radclyffe: CA 30 Jun 2009

The court held the appellant Ministry liable for a soldier’s injuries incurred when jumping from a high bridge. A senior officer had earlier ‘assumed responsibility to prevent the junior soldiers from taking undue risks of which he was or ought to have been aware’. Sir Anthony May pointed out that the senior officer had been asked if the men might jump, concluding that ‘the very fact that they asked predicates reliance sufficient for a duty of care and their assumption that he had authority to order them not to jump.’

Judges:

Sir Anthony May P QBD, Hooper, Sullivan LJJ

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Civ 635

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Geary v JD Wetherspoon Plc QBD 14-Jun-2011
The claimant, attempting to slide down the banisters at the defendants’ premises, fell 4 metres suffering severe injury. She claimed in negligence and occupiers’ liability. The local council had waived a requirement that the balustrade meet the . .
Cited – Reynolds v Strutt and Parker LLP ChD 15-Jul-2011
The defendant had organised a team bonding day, including a cycling event. The claimant employee was severely injured falling from his cycle. He said that the defendant had been engligent in not providing cycling helmets. The circuit hosting company . .
Cited – Cockbill v Riley QBD 22-Mar-2013
The claimant sufferd catastrophic injury diving into a paddling pool at a party held by the defendant for his daughter to celebrate completing her GCSEs.
Held: The claim failed. ‘It was reasonably foreseeable that someone would lose his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Vicarious Liability, Personal Injury, Armed Forces

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.347295

Societe Moteurs Leroy Somer v Societe Dalkia France: ECJ 4 Jun 2009

ECJ (Environment And Consumers) Liability for defective products Directive 85/374/EEC Scope Damage to an item of property intended for professional use and employed for that purpose National system permitting the injured person to seek compensation for such damage, where he simply proves the damage, the defect and the causal link – Compatibility

Citations:

ECLI:EU:C:2009:351, [2009] EUECJ C-285/08

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Personal Injury

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.347044

Moohan v City of Glasgow Council: OHCS 11 Mar 2003

The pursuer sought damages after an accident involving a stretching or twisting movement, which gave rise to no psychological consequences and in which the symptoms resolved in a relatively shortly time. It was accepted that any symptoms experienced by the pursuer after a date some twenty eight months after the accident did not relate to the accident.

Judges:

Lord Brodie

Citations:

[2003] ScotCS 58, 2003 SLT 745

Links:

Bailii, Bailii, ScotC

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – Iseabal Emslie v Anne Bell OHCS 12-Aug-2004
The defender had driven into the back of the pursuer’s car, causing the injuries. She claimed that the accident had aggravated a pre-existing slight injury to her knee.
Held: The pursuer’s accounts of her injuries had not been entirely . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.183994

James v Preseli District Council: CA 1992

In the context of an alleged failure to maintain a highway, the question in each case is whether the particular spot where the claimant tripped or fell was dangerous: ‘if the particular spot was not dangerous, then it is irrelevant that there were other spots nearby that were dangerous or that the area as a whole was due for resurfacing’ and ‘In one sense it is reasonably foreseeable that any defect in the highway, however slight, may cause an injury but that is not the test of what is meant by dangerous in this context. It must be the sort of danger which an authority may reasonably be expected to guard against.’

Judges:

Lloyd LJ

Citations:

[1992] PIQR 114

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Healy v Cosmosair Plc and others QBD 28-Jul-2005
The claimant sought damages after being injured diving into a swimming pool in Portugal when on a holiday organised by the defendants. He said that the surrounds of the pool were not provided with appropriate non-slip surfaces. The defendant said . .
Cited – Jones v Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council CA 15-Jul-2008
The claimant, a fireman, sought damages for injuries suffered when he was injured answering a call out. He fell into a depressed area by the road side as he was pulling away a burning wooden pallet.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The court . .
Cited – Griffiths v Gwynedd County Council CA 22-Oct-2015
The claimant cyclist was injured on being thrown from his bicycle going downhill, by a defect in the road. He appealed against a decision that the defect was not a danger. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.229776

Burrows v Northumbrian Water Ltd: QBD 10 Oct 2014

Appeal against a decision dismissed the claim of the appellant against his employer, the respondent defendant for damages for personal injury.

Judges:

Walker J

Citations:

[2014] EWHC 3305 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Health and Safety

Updated: 26 July 2022; Ref: scu.537519

Webster and Others v The Governors of the Ridgeway Foundation School: QBD 21 May 2009

The first claimant had been severely beaten as he left school. He and his parents also claimed post traumatic stress. They alleged that the school had been negligent in having allowed racial tensions to develop. The claimant was white, and his attackers Asian. The claimants sought disclosure of the school’s disciplinary records unredacted so that the racial origins could be identified. The school, reacted saying that beyond disclosing the names of the attackers, the remaining names were protected by confidence.
Held: Some requests were too wide to satisfy the need for certainty. Others would require specific justification to support the interference with the particular privacy of children.

Judges:

Nicol J

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 1140 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Kenny, Regina (on the Application of) v Leeds Magistrates Court, Leeds City Council Admn 5-Dec-2003
In cases involving children, Article 3 provides that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration, not the primary consideration.
The court looked at the test for making an interim ASBO: ‘Consideration of whether it is just to . .
Cited – Todd v Crown Prosecution Service; T v Director of Public Prosecutions and Another; Todd v DPP QBD 6-Oct-2003
The defendant had been under 18 at the commencement of proceedings but attained 18 during them. The newspaper was granted leave to refer to him by name upon his becoming 18.
Held: Denying the appeal. The balance between the freedom of the . .

Cited by:

See Also – Webster and Others v Ridgeway Foundation School QBD 5-Feb-2010
The claimant had been severely injured when attacked at school. He was a white youth, and his attackers all Asian. The school had a history of inter-racial tension, and he claimed in negligence, and that they had failed to protect his human right . .
See Also – Webster and Others v The Ridgeway Foundation School QBD 2-Mar-2010
The court considered whether costs should be payable on a standard or indemnity basis. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Human Rights, Education, Information, Litigation Practice

Updated: 26 July 2022; Ref: scu.346752

Palmer v Cornwall County Council: CA 21 May 2009

The claimant sought damages in negligence against his school when he was hit in the eye by a stone thrown by another pupil at a seagull. The pupil now appealed. The judge had been criticised for providing inadequate supervision.
Held: The appeal succeeded: ‘First, to have one dinner lady supervisor who would be stretched to supervise over 150 pupils in years 7 and 8, only glancing occasionally at years 9 and 10, was in my view clearly negligent. Second, since the purpose of appropriate supervision is to deter children taking part in dangerous activities, as well as to stop dangerous activities if they do occur, a court should not be too ready to accept that the dangerous activity would have happened anyway. Third, where as here the recorder found witnesses called by the appellant were telling the truth, there was no reason not to accept their evidence that if a supervisor had been near they would not have thrown stones because they knew that stone throwing was prohibited.’

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Civ 456

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Negligence, Education

Updated: 26 July 2022; Ref: scu.346226

Cassel v Riverside Health Authority: 1994

A person who has been rendered a patient as a result of the actions of a tortfeasor is entitled to require the tortfeasor to bear the costs of the receiver as part of the damages and, as part of the damages, they cannot escape a discount for contributory negligence.

Citations:

[1994] PIQR Q168

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Willbye (By Her Mother and Next Friend) v Gibbons CA 19-Mar-2003
Both parties appealed against the lower court’s orders. The claimant, a child was injured by a car driven by the defendant, who had been found 25% responsible. The claimant had suffered head injuries, and subsequently epilepsy.
Held: The award . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 25 July 2022; Ref: scu.180034

J Preston and Sons Ltd v Hurst: QBD 3 Apr 2012

The claimant sought damages for her father’s death, saying that he had contracted asbestosis after exposure to it whilst working for the defendants up to 1988. The defendants now applied to have the claim struck out saying that the deceased’s solicitor’s behaviour had made a fair trial impossible.

Judges:

Cranston J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 870 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury

Updated: 25 July 2022; Ref: scu.452465

Rider v Rider: CA 1973

Sachs LJ stated that ‘it is in my judgment clear that the corporation’s statutory duty under section 44 of the Act of 1959 is reasonably to maintain and repair the highway so that it is free of danger to all users who use that highway in the way normally to be expected of them — taking account, of course, of the traffic reasonably to be expected on the particular highway. Motorists who thus use the highway, and to whom a duty is owed, are not to be expected by the authority all to be model drivers. Drivers in general are liable to make mistakes, including some rated as negligent by the courts, without being merely for that reason stigmatised as unreasonable or abnormal drivers; some drivers may be inexperienced, and some drivers may find themselves in difficulties from which the more adept could escape. The highway authority must provide not merely for model drivers, but for the normal run of drivers to be found on their highways, and that includes those who make the mistakes which experience and common sense teaches are likely to occur.’ and ‘mere unevenness, undulations and minor potholes do not normally constitute a danger’ within the section.

Citations:

[1973] QB 505

Statutes:

Highways Act 1959 44

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – West Sussex County Council v Russell CA 12-Feb-2010
The council appealed against a finding that it had failed in its duty to keep the highway safe leading to an accident in which the claimant was severely injured. The road was narrow, and a significant drop had developed by the edge of the road. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Personal Injury

Updated: 25 July 2022; Ref: scu.401639

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 defendant approaching from the other direction.
Held: The defendant had been driving in excess of the speed limit.
The claimant had ‘made a good physical recovery from his injuries but the major impact of the head injuries has been upon cognition, behaviour and speech function; there are significant problems with memory, concentration and expressive dysphasia; he needs help with every day tasks but most importantly, he has developed post traumatic epilepsy.’
Given the guidance to cyclists in the Highway Code that they should wear cycle helmets, the logic of Froom v Butcher as to motorists not wearing seatbelts should be applied also to cyclists not wearing helmets: ‘It matters not that there is no legal compulsion for cyclists to wear helmets and so a cyclist is free to choose whether or not to wear one because there can be no doubt that the failure to wear a helmet may expose the cyclist to the risk of greater injury; such a failure would not be ‘a sensible thing to do’ and so, subject to issues of causation, any injury sustained may be the cyclist’s own fault and ‘he has only himself to thank for the consequences’.
I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities, that the cyclist who does not wear a helmet runs the risk of contributing to his/her injuries.’ and ‘As it is accepted that the wearing of helmets may afford protection in some circumstances it must follow that a cyclist of ordinary prudence would wear one, no matter whether on a long or a short trip or whether on quiet suburban roads or a busy main road.’
However it remained for the defendant to show that the particular injuries suffered would not have occurred if the claimant had been wearing a helmet. In this case he had not achieved that standard: ‘the injuries responsible for the Claimant’s residual disabilities were caused by a contre-coup injury – an injury from which a helmet would not have protected the Claimant.’

Judges:

Griffith Williams J

Citations:

[2009] EWCH 53 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

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 – Lewis v Denye CA 1939
Parcq LJ said: ‘In order to establish the defence of contributory negligence, the defendant must prove, first, that the plaintiff failed to take ‘ordinary care for himself,’ or, in other words, such care as a reasonable man would take for his own . .

Cited by:

Cited – Phethean-Hubble v Coles QBD 24-Feb-2011
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: . .
Cited – Reynolds v Strutt and Parker LLP ChD 15-Jul-2011
The defendant had organised a team bonding day, including a cycling event. The claimant employee was severely injured falling from his cycle. He said that the defendant had been engligent in not providing cycling helmets. The circuit hosting company . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Negligence, Road Traffic

Updated: 24 July 2022; Ref: scu.341870

Stewart v Glaze: QBD 7 Apr 2009

Coulson J considered the place of expert evidence in cases involving road traffic accidents, saying: ‘it is the primary factual evidence which is of the greatest importance in a case of this kind. The expert evidence comprises a useful way in which that factual evidence, and the inferences to be drawn from it, can be tested. It is, however, very important to ensure that the expert evidence is not elevated into a fixed framework or formula, against which the defendant’s actions are then to be rigidly judged with a mathematical precision.’

Judges:

Coulson J

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 704 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Ahanonu v South East London and Kent Bus Company Ltd CA 8-Oct-2007
Laws LJ said: ‘There is sometimes a danger in cases of negligence that the court may evaluate the standard of care owed by the defendant by reference to fine considerations elicited in the leisure of the court room, perhaps with the liberal use of . .

Cited by:

Cited – Sinclair v Joyner QBD 23-Jun-2015
The claimant cyclist sought damages from the defendant motorist after a collision in which she was severely injured. They approached each other on a narrow lane. The claimant said that the defendant did not pull over as much as she should, and the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Evidence, Litigation Practice

Updated: 24 July 2022; Ref: scu.341880

Swain v Denso Marston Ltd: CA 12 Apr 2000

An injury suffered by the claimant when stripping down part of the conveyor system at his employer’s premises. To replace bearings, he had to remove various components and then the roller itself. Unexpectedly the roller was solid metal, weighing about 20 kilograms and he suffered a crush injury to his right hand when the roller was released. There had been no relevant risk assessment, notwithstanding that the employer had a health and safety officer. The conveyor system was described as ‘specialised plant and machinery’ and an assessment would have considered whether repairs and non-routine maintenance should be carried out by the employer’s staff or the manufacturer and would have considered the manual handling tasks involved in repairs and maintenance.
Held: There was ‘no systematic assessment under the control of either an outside consultant or the health and safety officer (even if part of the task was delegated to a person who was an experienced employee).’

Judges:

Stuart-Smith, Walker LJJ

Citations:

[2000] EWCA Civ 3021, [2000] ICR 1079

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Manual Handling Operation Regulations 1992

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Sloan v The Governors of Rastrick High School CA 29-Jul-2014
The claimant appealed against dismissal of her claim for personal injuries. She was employed as a teaching assistant providing support for children with mobility issues. She said that she suffered a soft tissue injury in her cervical spine and in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury

Updated: 24 July 2022; Ref: scu.330958

Roberts v Chief Constable of Kent: CA 17 Dec 2008

The claimant had been bitten by a police dog while running away after being asked to provide a sample of breath. He was caught by the dog and then warned that if he attempted to run away again, the dog would be set to catch him. A struggle ensued, and the dog, as it had been trained to do, bit the claimant again. The judge had found the defendant’s officer’s actions lawful under the 1967 Act. He suffered serious biting injuries, and now argued that the use of the dog and the manner of its use was disproportionate.
Held: The judge had taken into account all the correct factors, and no irrelevant ones. The appeal failed.

Judges:

Ward, Jackson, Aikens LJJ

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Civ 1588

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Law Act 1967 3(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Farrell (Formerly McLaughlin) v The Secretary of State for Defence HL 1980
The purpose of pleadings is to enable the opposing party to know the case against him. Lord Edmund-Davies said that: ‘It has become fashionable in these days to attach decreasing importance to pleadings, and it is beyond doubt that there have been . .
Cited – Pollard v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police CA 28-Apr-1998
Damages for assault by police dog.
Held: Though in principle reasonable force can be used in the course of assisting in the arrest of a suspected offender, that must always be reasonable and proportionate. The claimant’s appeal failed. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Police

Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.291919

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co v Highley: HL 23 Mar 1917

An employee of a railway company in crossing the line to a messroom to which he had a right to go, chose to walk over the metals and under a goods train standing in a siding. The train started and he was killed. Held that the accident did not arise out of the man’s employment, but occurred in consequence of his having run an additional and quite unnecessary risk.

Judges:

Lord Chancellor (Finlay), Viscount Haldane, Lords Dunedin, Atkinson, and Sumner

Citations:

[1917] UKHL 509, 55 SLR 509

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Employment

Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.631001

Great Western Railway Co v Helps: HL 30 Nov 1917

Master and Servant – Workmen’s Compensation – Compensation – Computation of the Compensation – Average Weekly Earnings – ‘Tips’ Received, under Sanotion of the Employer – Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII, c. 58), First Sched. (1) (6), (2) ( a).
A railway porter met with an accident under circumstances which entitled him to compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906. His employers contended that the compensation due to him fell to be computed on the basis of his weekly wage, viz., 25s. 10d., whereas the arbitrator took into account the average weekly sum received from passengers as ‘tips,’ bringing the average weekly earnings to 37s. 10d.
Held that where a workman systematically receives with the sanction of his employer gratuities which involve no breach of duty to his employer, such gratuities form part of his average weekly earnings.
Penn v. Spiers and Pond Limited, [1908] 1 K.B. 766, approved.

Judges:

Lords Dunedin, Atkinson, Parker, Sumner, and Parmoor

Citations:

[1917] UKHL 783, 55 SLR 783

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment, Personal Injury

Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.631011

Lamb v Wray: ScSf 22 Nov 2013

consideration of the cause sustains the defender’s objection to the admission of evidence in relation to the normal and usual or standard practice of a dentist carrying out a filling of a tooth

Citations:

[2013] ScotSC 105

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Personal Injury

Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.519718

Jones v Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council: CA 15 Jul 2008

The claimant, a fireman, sought damages for injuries suffered when he was injured answering a call out. He fell into a depressed area by the road side as he was pulling away a burning wooden pallet.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The court overturned a finding of dangerousness.
Laws LJ stressed that the statutory highway repairing duty, defined in Burnside, was significantly less stringent than a duty to repair every defect in the highway which might foreseeably cause harm, and ‘The judge noted the minimal use of the path, the good state of repair of the made-up area, its ample width for passing and repassing, and the fact that the erosion on the river side of the path was perfectly obvious. Given all those factors and the others to which I have referred he was in my judgment entitled to find as he did that no works of repair were reasonably required. That is so, as it seems to me, despite what is undoubtedly a considerable drop at the point where the erosion is to be seen in the pictures.’
Laws LJ said: ‘Section 41 has been said to impose an absolute duty, but the term ‘absolute’ in my opinion has with respect to be treated with care. There is a risk of it suggesting that the duty is to maintain the highway to such a standard as in effect to guarantee the safety of its users, and it is plain that that is by no means the measure of the duty; it is absolute only in the sense that it is not merely a duty to take reasonable care but to maintain the highway to an objective standard. The statute does not state what the standard is. The authorities, however, are as it seems to me clear as to the nature of this standard. The highway has to be maintained in such a state of repair that it is reasonably passable for the ordinary traffic of the neighbourhood without danger caused by its physical condition.’

Judges:

Laws, Longmore, Richards LJJ

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Civ 1497, [2009] RTR 13

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Highways Act 1980 41 58(1) 329(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Nicholson v The Southern Railway Company 1935
There may be liability on a highway authority under the highways Acts, in the event that a person slips off the edge of a highway. . .
Cited – Griffiths v Liverpool Corporation CA 1967
The Highways Act of 1961 had enlarged the duty of the highway authority and made it a general duty to take reasonable care to secure that the highway was not dangerous to traffic.
As to the effect of the 1961 Act, Diplock LJ said: ‘The duty at . .
Cited – Rider v Rider CA 1973
The plaintiff was a passenger in a car which her husband was driving and which collided with a van. The husband had been driving too fast. The edge of the tarmac on the road abutted grass verges at a lower level and the edge had been inadequately . .
Cited – Mills v Barnsley Borough Council CA 1992
The court considered the extent of defect in a highway needed to found a claim that it was dangerous. It emphasised that the duty must not be made too high, balancing the public need against the private interest.
Steyn LJ said: ‘For my part I . .
Cited – Goodes v East Sussex County Council CA 7-Jan-1999
A council which failed to maintain a road ice free when they had decided on the need to prevent icing, and had had the opportunity to prevent it, but failed to take it, were in breach of statutory duty and liable for damages to driver of crashed . .
Cited – Cenet v Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council QBD 26-Jun-2008
Swift J stated that the highway must be ‘free of danger to all users who use the highway in a way normally expected of them’. . .
Cited – James v Preseli District Council CA 1992
In the context of an alleged failure to maintain a highway, the question in each case is whether the particular spot where the claimant tripped or fell was dangerous: ‘if the particular spot was not dangerous, then it is irrelevant that there were . .

Cited by:

Cited – West Sussex County Council v Russell CA 12-Feb-2010
The council appealed against a finding that it had failed in its duty to keep the highway safe leading to an accident in which the claimant was severely injured. The road was narrow, and a significant drop had developed by the edge of the road. The . .
Cited – Griffiths v Gwynedd County Council CA 22-Oct-2015
The claimant cyclist was injured on being thrown from his bicycle going downhill, by a defect in the road. He appealed against a decision that the defect was not a danger. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury

Updated: 22 July 2022; Ref: scu.279973

White v EON and others: CA 26 Nov 2008

Appeal from a judgment that the claimant’s claim for personal injuries against the third defendant was time-barred. Damages were claimed against the three defendants for whom the claimant worked successfully between 1962 and 1996 for Vibration White Finger and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome caused by exposure to excessive levels of vibration from tools which he used in his job as a lightning conductor fitter.
Held: The appeal failed.

Judges:

Tuckey, Jacob LJJ, Sir William Aldous

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Civ 1463

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Limitation

Updated: 22 July 2022; Ref: scu.279990

M’Glone v British Railways Board: HL 27 Oct 1965

The appellant sought damages in respect of injuries suffered by his son who received a severe electrical shock, climbing on a booster transformer on premises occupied by the respondents. The First Division had held that the respondents were not liable and granted decree of absolvitor.
Held: The father’s appeal failed. The 1960 Act abolishes the categories of invitee, licensee and trespasser, and installs a higher duty than before: ‘The care required is such care as is reasonable and it may be reasonable to require a greater degree of care in one such case than in another. In deciding what degree of care is required, in my view regard must be had both to the position of the occupier and to the position of the person entering his premises and it may often be reasonable to hold that an occupier must do more to protect a person whom he permits to be on his property than he need do to protect a person who enters his property without his permission. Trespassers on the steep bank were so frequent that I would be prepared, if necessary, to hold that licence to play on the bank could be implied. Certainly the respondents ought to have expected that boys would play on it near this transformer and the respondents’ witness admitted that, when such apparatus is erected at places open to the public, means are taken to warn people against climbing transformers. The question here is whether the means which were taken were sufficient to discharge the statutory duty.’
‘ The live wires were only a danger to a boy old enough to climb up this structure, and I think that the respondents could properly assume that such a boy would understand that the barbed wire was intended to keep him out and that there would or might be danger if he forced his way into this small enclosure. This is not a case of danger to a child too young to understand such things. The evidence shows that the boy knew quite well that the barbed wire was intended to keep him out and that to climb the transformer was dangerous. But he knew little or nothing about electricity and he did not know about live wires. So, even if he had read the notices, he would have learned little from them.
In a case like this an occupier does in my view act reasonably if he erects an obstacle which a boy must take some trouble to overcome before he can reach the dangerous apparatus.’

Judges:

Lord Reid

Citations:

[1966] SC (HL) 1 HL(Sc), [1965] UKHL 2, 1966 SC 1, 1966 SLT 2

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Occupiers’ Liability (Scotland) Act 1960 2

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – British Railways Board v Herrington HL 16-Feb-1972
Land-owner’s Possible Duty to Trespassers
The plaintiff, a child had gone through a fence onto the railway line, and been badly injured. The Board knew of the broken fence, but argued that they owed no duty to a trespasser.
Held: Whilst a land-owner owes no general duty of care to a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury

Updated: 22 July 2022; Ref: scu.279723