Duty of care: Claims against the police post Robinson and DSD – part one

In part one of a two-part analysis of claims against the police, John-Paul Swoboda examines the decision in Robinson and whether the police are exempt from negligence claims ‘Lord Reed and the other Supreme Court justices recognised that not too high a standard ought to be imposed on the police, but those observations did not …
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Local authority duties: Limited liability

In the conclusion to a two-part analysis, Robert Hams, Lord Edward Faulks QC and Paul Stagg examine the implications of the Court of Appeal’s judgment in CN v Poole Borough Council ‘Following CN v Poole, no duty of care can be owed by a local social services authority in the exercise of its child protection …
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Duty of care: Finding fault

In the first of a two-part analysis, Robert Hams, Lord Edward Faulks QC and Paul Stagg summarise the background to the Court of Appeal decision in CN v Poole Borough Council and the line of relevant authorities on negligence ‘It was argued that a line of authorities demonstrated that it was well established that vulnerable …
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Liability: Pure omissions and public authorities

Ruth Kennedy considers the basis upon which liability can be established ‘The general principle is that there is no liability for the wrongdoing of a third party, even where that wrongdoing is foreseeable.‘ This article focuses on liability for pure omissions in tort with a particular focus on public authorities. The general principle of the …
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Local authority duties: Limited liability

In the conclusion to a two-part analysis, Robert Hams, Lord Edward Faulks QC and Paul Stagg examine the Court of Appeal‘s approach to local authority duties and the implications of its judgment in CN v Poole Borough Council ‘Two aspects of the case law militated against liability: the danger of encouraging defensive decision-making, and the …
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Duty of care: It‘s a fair cop

Patrick West explores a recent Supreme Court case on police liability ‘Is there a general rule that police are not under any duty of care when discharging their function of investigating and preventing crime?‘ Everyone who has passed through law school will remember the case about the snail in the ginger beer. Poor old Mrs …
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Case Report: Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 151

Duty of care; A&E; head injury; waiting times ‘It was not fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care on the receptionist to give a patient accurate information about waiting times or not to provide inaccurate information on waiting times.’In Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2017] the court looked at what, …
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Case Report: Foulds v Devon County Council [2015] 9/1/15 Lawtel

Public authority; duty of care; acts or omissions ‘Foulds is a useful reminder of the importance of analysing whether or not a case is, in essence, based on an omission, rather than a positive act, by a public authority.’HHJ Cotter QC followed the important line of legal authorities which significantly restrict the circumstances in which …
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Child Abuse: Local authority liability

Richard Scorer considers failure to protect claims ‘It will be difficult if not impossible for local authorities to rely on the limitation defences they have deployed in “historic” failure to remove claims.’ Over the last three years, since the revelations about Jimmy Savile, child abuse scandals have dominated the media. Many more victims have come …
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