Duty of care in personal injury claims

Posted by admin on Jun 4th, 2009 | no comments

Duty of care simply means that the person, or organisation, or state, owe you a duty of care. But how did this concept arise? The answer lies in a one of the most famous case ever heard in the UK, Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562. The case involved defective goods, namely a bottle of ginger beer. The claimant suffered illness when she consumed the ginger beer which had a decomposing snail in the bottle. Donoghue had not bought the ginger beer herself, her friend had. The question before the House of Lords (on a preliminary point of law) was whether she had a cause of action against the manufacturer of the ginger beer, Stevenson.

In a 3:2 decision, their Lordships held that she did indeed have an action against the producer. This decision firmly acknowledged that negligence was a tort in its own right.

Lord Atkin said ‘……………..the rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes, in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyers question “who is my neighbour?” receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably forsee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who then is my neighbour?  The answer seems to be -  persons closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.’

The importance of the decision cannot be over stated. Prior to this decision, Donoghue would not have been able to bring an action as such claims would only have been contemplated within a contract (as it was not Miss Donoghue who bought the ginger beer, it was her friend and therefore no contract was formed between Donoghue and Stevenson)  Now,there does not have to be contractual relationship. The law of product liability is very wide and fast developing. We deal with all types of product liability cases, equipment, electrical tools, hand tools, household products, foods, hair-care products, makeup, whitegoods, ladders and step-ladders, etc.

If you have suffered personal injury caused by a product, please telephone us on freephone 0800 169 3683 for immediate advice advice. Our solicitors are experts in product liability claims, road traffic claims, slipping and tripping cases, accidents at work etc……..

Comments are closed.