The claimant was a bystander, injured during an arrest on the street by officers employed by the respondent. She now appealed against rejection of her claim in negligence. Held; No duty of care was owed, and that, even if the officers had owed Mrs Robinson such a duty, they had not acted in breach of it, and this case was: was ‘a paradigm example of why the courts are loath to impose a duty towards individual members of the public on the police engaged in their core functions’
Hallett LJ considered that ‘the Caparo test applies to all claims in the modern law of negligence’. In consequence, ‘. . the court will only impose a duty where it considers it right to do so on the facts’. The general principle was that ‘most claims against the police in negligence for their acts and omissions in the course of investigating and suppressing crime and apprehending offenders will fail the third stage of the Caparo test’. That is to say, ‘. . it will not be fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty’. That is because ‘the courts have concluded that the interests of the public will not be best served by imposing a duty on to individuals’
Lady Justice Hallett, Vice President of the CACD
[2014] EWCA Civ 15
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others HL 8-Feb-1990
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement
The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares.
Held: The . .
Cited – Desmond v The Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police CA 12-Jan-2011
The claimant appealed from the rejection of his claim in negligence against the police. He had been arrested on suspicion of a sexual assault, but the investigating officer concluded that he was not responsible for the crime. Despite this, several . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police SC 8-Feb-2018
Limits to Police Exemption from Liability
The claimant, an elderly lady was bowled over and injured when police were chasing a suspect through the streets. As they arrested him they fell over on top of her. She appealed against refusal of her claim in negligence.
Held: Her appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.635203
