Class notes
Negligence notes
- Course
- Institution
- Book
Covering some parts of the law of negligence
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
More summaries for
-
Duty of care in the law of negligence
-
Factual causation in negligence
-
Negligence - psychiatric damage
Seller
Follow
littlelad1314
Content preview
If someone suffers psych harm as result of property damage, unproblematic Psych harm following on from other physical damage
Authority - Tier v British Gas
Lady walking down street - sees house of fire
British gas doing work on her house
Suffers psych harm - claimed duty of care
Psych harm and nothing else
Not limited by laws of inertia- e.g. debris can only fly so far from explosion
Possibility of making claims for psych harm has been possible for a while
Dulieu v White (1901) - first case recognized
Horse-drawn carriage crashed into bar - barmaid suffered psych harm
Nervous shock - able to claim tort of negligence
Concerns:
Liability for disproportionate amount of damages
Ultra Morris corporation v Touche (1931)
Concern about liability in indeterminate amount for indeterminate time to
indeterminate class of people
Opening floodgate to claims
Hillsborough disaster - worry that there could be large number of claims from
one-off event
If floodgate of claims for one type of event/claimant, pressure on system
Other claims may not get fair hearing
Concern for fraud
Psych harm is easier to fake than physical harm
Over-deterrence
If liability for psych harm that can be caused by events, may deter D from
putting on these events
Preconditions to whether there should be duty of care owed to psych harm
Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police
Whether C suffers from recognized psych illness
Law Commission looked at liability for psych harm in 1998
Did not think medical knowledge had advanced enough for complete
codification of liability for psych illness to be sensible option
Usually determined by expert evidence
Usually refer to DSM american diagnostic + statistical manual of mental
disorders
Or ICD10 - national statistical classification of mental + behavioural disorders
Classify more than 500? Types of psych injuries
E.g.
, Pathological unresolved mourning - is injury
But severe bereavement reaction - not injury
Mere distress - not injury
Test of reasonable foreseeability
Is it reasonably foreseeable that someone might suffer psych harm due to injury/the fear
of injury to another person
Hambro Construction 1925
Mother saw lorry going to where she left children
Fearing they were killed - didn't see them be hit
Later died partly due to build-up of stress over time
Borrel v Young 1943
C heard collision involving motorcyclist + other vehicle
No connection to person
Suffered psych harm - miscarriage
Not entitled to claim - not reasonably foreseeable someone would
suffer from hearing accident
Depends on whether C is primary/secondary victim
Whether psych harm has arisen in context of work
Test of foreseeability depends on distinction:
Acute psych harm = caused by one-off event
Primary victim
C is directly involved as participant
In danger zone -
Donachie v CC Manchester Police
C is police officer trying to put tracking device under criminal's car
Has to go back many times to fit device as batteries keep failing
Fear for life each time - maybe heart attack?
Employer - failed to provide with him with safe system of work
Young v Charles Church (1997)
C hands colleague scaffolding pole
Colleague touches live electricity wire, electrocuted + dies
Other colleague burnt
C spectator D - caused psych harm
But included in danger zone as sufficiently close
Criticism that this was wrongly interpreted
Fear must be real
Must be objectively in danger zone/reasonably fear you are in danger zone
McFarlane v EE Caledonia [1994] 2 All ER 1
C was in support vessel watching oil rig on fire
Court didn't accept he was actually in fear
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller littlelad1314. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $9.76. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
64438 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now