Negligence
Negligence was defined in the case of Blythe v Birmingham Waterworks ‘failing to do something which a reasonable person would do (omission) or doing something which a reasonable person would not do (an act)’.
3 elements-
1.Duty of care
2.Breach of duty of care
3.Breach caused the damage to the claimant
Class of defendant-Standard of care differs for different classes of defendants
measure the reasonable person with objective test-
The objective test addresses the ‘reasonable person’ and asks ‘what would a reasonable person of ordinary prudence have done in the defendant’s situation?-Nettleship v Weston
VARYING THE STANDARD OF CARE
Factors raising or lowering the standard-
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Legal Causation. This includes remoteness of damage and type of foreseeable harm
Wagon Mound
Thin skull rule-underlying medical condition-Smith v Leech
2 main remidies in tort
injunctions, which aim to stop or prevent the behaviour which comprises the tort
damages, which aim to compensate the claimant financially
Types of losses-
Peculinary losses
Non-peculniary losses
financial losses
things that can't be fixed by money e.g pain and suffering
Damages
special damages
general damages
cover peculinary losses
cover non peculinary losses
Factual causation-But for test
Barnett v Chelsea
Mitigation=
a requirement that a person act toward others and the public with watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence that a reasonable person in the circumstances would’
A person breaches their duty of care when they fall below a particular standard of behaviour.
reducing risk of loss from the occurrence of any undesirable event.
Establishing a duty of care
statutory authority (road traffic act 1988)
Reason by analogy
existing precedent (donoghue v stevenson) or
The UK Supreme Court case of Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police (2018) states that there is no single test for establishing a duty of care and that what the claimant should do is:
Children-Standard of care judged with the same age
People in sport-higher degree of care required of a player in a First Division football match than of a player in a local league
Professionals-The standard is ‘the standard of a reasonable person of that profession’.