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Breach of Duty of Care - Coggle Diagram

- - - - A learner driver on her third lesson crashed into a lamp post and injured her instructor.
        
        The question for the court was whether a lower standard of care should be expected because she was a learner driver.
        
        The Court of Appeal held that the same standard of care was expected from a learner driver as any other driver. Incompetence is not enough, the driver must drive in as good a manner as a driver of skill, experience and care. She was found liable.
  - - - Two 15yr olds fighting with plastic rulers. A ruler snapped and a splinter had pierced one of the girls eyes which left her blind in that eye.
        
        The court found that the 15yr old girl was only expected to meet the standard of care of a 15yr old and not that of an adult. She was found not to be in breach of her duty of care.
  - - - Junior doctor gave a premature baby too much oxygen. The baby went blind in one eye and partially blind in the other from a condition caused by over exposure to oxygen.
        
        The court decided that the junior doctor should owe the same standard of care as a qualified one.
  - - - The claimant was undergoing electro convulsive therapy. The doctor did not give any relaxant drugs and the claimant suffered a serious fracture.
        
        The court decided that the doctor was not in breach of his duty of care as he acted in accordance with a practice accepted by medical professionals at the time.
- - - - A person is not required to show a standard of care greater than that of the reasonable person
        
        A person will be liable if they have shown a standard of care less than that of the reasonable person. 
        
        Courts must consider the special characteristics of the defendant. (Are they a child, A learner/trainee, A professional)
      - A reasonable person is an ordinary person performing their task competently
    - - The reasonable person would not take unreasonable risks.
- - - - The court expect people to take only reasonable precautions.
  - - - Balance of low risk of harm against by the gravity of harm to a particularly vulnerable claimant.
  - - - If the activity was for a socially useful purpose then the defendant may be justified in taking a greater risk.