A fire caused substantial damage to buildings. It arose from a ‘shim’ placed in a fuse box which then overheated. The parties disputed whose employee had inserted the shim. The Act under which the Regulations had been made was repealed and replaced and the new regime had a different wording which the court had found created civil liability. The court was asked whether the Regulations remained in force. Scottish Power appealed against a finding that a new civil liability had been created.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The regulations remained in effect. The intention was that any criminal liability created was not to take away any civil liability, but that fell short of creating a civil liability. Contraventions of regulations 17, 24 and 25 of the 1988 Regulations did not give rise to a private right of action: ‘the scheme of the legislation, with its carefully worked-out provisions for various forms of enforcement on behalf of the public, points against individuals having a private right of action for damages for contraventions of regulations made under it.’
Lord Rodger, Lord Walker, Lady Hale, Lord Collins, Lord Clarke
[2010] UKSC 37, [2010] WLR (D) 202, [2010] 1 WLR 1934, 2010 SLT 1027
Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary
Electricity Supply Regulations 1988 (SI 1988 no 1057) 17 24 25, Energy Act 1983 16, Electricity Act 1989 29
Scotland
Citing:
At Outer House – Morrison Sports Ltd and others v Scottish Power Plc and others OHCS 18-Jul-2007
. .
At Inner House – Morrison Sports Ltd and Others v Scottish Power SCS 8-Dec-2009
(Inner House) . .
Cited – Stevens v General Steam Navigation Co Ltd CA 1903
A re-enacting provision modified the original provision so as to include the words ‘all machinery or plant used in the process of loading or unloading of any ship in any dock, harbour or canal.’ The provision introduced the word ‘harbour’. This was . .
Cited – Stevens v Aldershot Gas, Water and District Lighting Co 1932
The plaintiff claimed for damage to electrical apparatus and loss of profits because the defendants had failed to supply electric current at the voltage at which they had said that they would.
Held: The question was ‘whether, if they have . .
Cited – Heard v Brymbo Steel Company Ltd CA 1947
The plaintiff was injured in an explosion at work arising from a short-circuit occurring because of breaches by the second defendants, the North Wales Power Co Ltd, of the 1937 regulations, 24 and 25. The 1899 Act applied, and it provided that . .
Cited – X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council; M (A Minor) and Another v Newham London Borough Council; Etc HL 29-Jun-1995
Liability in Damages on Statute Breach to be Clear
Damages were to be awarded against a Local Authority for breach of statutory duty in a care case only if the statute was clear that damages were capable of being awarded. in the ordinary case a breach of statutory duty does not, by itself, give rise . .
Cited – A E Beckett and Sons (Lyndons) Ltd and Others v Midlands Electricity Plc QBD 2000
The claimants alleged that they had suffered loss as a result of the defendants’ breach of regulation 25(1) of the 1988 Regulations. . .
Cited – A E Beckett and Sons (Lyndons) Ltd and Others v Midlands Electricity Plc CA 10-Jan-2001
The claimants alleged that they had suffered loss as a result of the defendants’ breach of regulation 25(1) of the 1988 Regulations.
Held: The statutory power of an electricity supplier, to exclude by contract his own liability for . .
Cited – Phillips v Britannia Hygienic Laundry Co Ltd CA 1923
A breach of the regulation does not give rise to an action for damages. The distinction between misfeasance and non-feasance should no longer have significance. Atkin LJ said: ‘one who cannot be otherwise specified than as a person using the . .
Cited – Todd v Adams and Chope (Trading as Trelawney Fishing Co) (The ‘Margaretha Maria’) CA 2002
Where the correctness of a finding of primary fact or of inference is in issue (on appeal), it cannot be a matter of simple discretion how an appellate court approaches the matter. Once the appellant has shown a real prospect (justifying permission . .
Cited – Roe v Sheffield City Council and others CA 17-Jan-2003
The claimant sought damages after his car was involved in an accident when a wheel struck a part of a tramway standing proud of the road surface. The defendant argued that they were excused liability by the 1988 Act, incorporating the effects of the . .
Cited – Weir and Another v East of Scotland Water Authority SCS 23-Nov-2000
The claimants sought damages for personal injury saying that the defendant had supplied unwholesome water.
Held: Although the water authority was under a statutory duty to supply wholesome water, it was not a duty that was owed to a defined . .
Cited by:
Cited – Campbell v Gordon SC 6-Jul-2016
The employee was injured at work, but in a way excluded from the employers insurance cover. He now sought to make the sole company director liable, hoping in term to take action against the director’s insurance brokers for negligence, the director . .
Cited – Campbell v Gordon SC 6-Jul-2016
The employee was injured at work, but in a way excluded from the employers insurance cover. He now sought to make the sole company director liable, hoping in term to take action against the director’s insurance brokers for negligence, the director . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Utilities
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.421095