Contract Law - Establishing a claim in negligence

What this page is about: A short essay on the necessary elements for establishing a claim in negligence.

To establish a claim in Negligence, the Claimant must show that the Defendant owed them a duty of care, which means the Claimant must have been able to reasonably foresee that his actions would be likely to injure the Defendant, there was a sufficient proximity of relationship between the Claimant and Defendant, and that it would be fair, just and reasonable to impose such a duty [Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) AC 562  1, Caparo Industries plc. v. Dickman (1990) 1 All ER 568 REF2].  

The Claimant must then show that the Defendant breached that duty.  This means that the Defendant’s conduct fell below the standard of care that the (hypothetical) reasonable person would have taken in the same circumstances [Blyth v. Birmingham Waterworks (1856) 11 Exch 781 REF3, Hall v Brooklands Auto-Racing Club (1933) 1 KB 205 REF4].  Where the Defendant is a professional, the reasonable person will be attributed with a usual level of skill and competence of that type of professional [Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (1957) 2 All ER 118 REF5]. 

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