CHAPTER 26
Private law remedies
Cases
26.11Clunis v Camden and Islington Health Authority (1997–8) 1 CCLR 215, QBD Health and social services authorities do not owe a duty of care to patients, to discharge their duty to provide after-care services in a reasonably careful manner and, in any event, a patient who killed a man knowing that was wrong, would not be permitted to sue
26.12Barrett v Enfield LBC (1999) 2 CCLR 203, HL It was arguable that a local authority owed a duty to care to children it was looking after, to look after them properly
26.13Kent v Griffiths, Roberts and the London Ambulance Service [2001] QB 36, [2000] 2 All ER 474, CA The ambulance service owed a duty of care to attend expeditiously
26.14Phelps v Hillingdon LBC (2000) 3 CCLR 158, HL Persons exercising a profession or skill may owe a duty of care to those they injure notwithstanding a statutory context
26.15S v Gloucestershire CC; L v Tower Hamlets LBC (2000) 3 CCLR 294, CA It was arguable that a decision by a social worker should be equated with the decisions of other professional persons, involving a duty of care, despite the statutory context
26.16Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd [2001] UKHL 22, [2002] 1 AC 215 An employer is vicariously liable for the acts of an employee that were closely connected with his employment
26.17JD and others v East Berkshire CH and others [2003] EWCA Civ 1151, (2004) 7 CCLR 63 Healthcare professionals owed a duty of care to children, when they were investigating possible abuse, but not parents
26.18A and another v Essex CC [2003] EWCA Civ 1848, (2004) 7 CCLR 98 Adoption agencies owed a duty of care to prospective adopters to give them information about the children that the agencies had decided ought to be communicated
26.19JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust [2005] UKHL 23, (2005) 8 CCLR 185 Healthcare professionals investigating the suspected of abuse of children did not owe a duty of care to the suspected perpetrators (the parents)
26.20Lawrence v Pembrokeshire CC [2007] EWCA Civ 446, (2007) 10 CCLR 367 Public authorities owe duties towards children not adults suspected of endangering them
26.21Sandford and Scherer v Waltham Forest LBC [2008] EWHC 1106 QB, (2008) 11 CCLR 480 A local authority owed no duty of care to discharge its functions under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 with reasonable care and skill
26.22AK v Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust and another [2008] EWHC 1217 QB, (2008) 11 CCLR 543 A duty of care was arguably owed to an extremely vulnerable man to whom an NHS Trust was providing services, on which the man was known to be reliant
26.23Connor v Surrey CC [2010] EWCA Civ 286, (2010) 13 CCLR 491 A local authority owed a duty of care to a headteacher to take adequate steps to protect her from a campaign against her
26.24Jain v Trent Strategic Health Authority [2009] UKHL 4, (2009) 12 CCLR 194 A health authority did not owe care home owners a duty of care when investigating suspected inadequate care provided to residents and securing an ex parte order cancelling the care home’s registration
26.25X and Y v Hounslow LBC [2009] EWCA Civ 286, (2009) 12 CCLR 254 A local authority did not owe a duty of care to protect vulnerable adults from anti-social behaviour
26.26MAK and RK v United Kingdom Application nos 45901/05 and 40146/06, (2010) 13 CCLR 241 Disproportionate actions by a hospital doctor, resulting in his erroneously concluding that parents had abused their daughter, were incompatible with Article 8 ECHR
26.27NA v Nottinghamshire CC [2015] EWCA Civ 1139, [2016] QB 739 In the absence of negligence, a local authority is not liable for abuse perpetrated by foster carers
26.27.1Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11, [2015] AC 1430 Doctors were under a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that patients were informed about any material risks involved in any recommended treatment and of any reasonable alternative treatments
26.28Cox v Ministry of Justice [2016] UKSC 10, [2016] AC 660 A is vicariously liable for the torts of B who, whilst not being an employee, is undertaking activities as an integral part of A’s undertaking and for A’s benefit, rather than for an independent business, and where the risk arises out of A assigning B the activity that led to the tortious act
26.29A M Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC [2016] UKSC 11, [2016] AC 677 An employer is vicariously liable for the tortious action of an employee when there is a sufficiently close connection between the tortious action and what the employee had been employed to do, as when an employee abuses the position entrusted to him
26.30JR v Secretary of State for Justice [2016] EW Misc B8 (CC) The Probation Service was not liable for physical and emotional abuse suffered by a woman who had begun a relationship with a prisoner on licence without knowing that he had murdered his partner
26.31London v Southampton CC [2016] EWHC 2021 (QB) There had been a breach of the duty of care towards an elderly man by failing to supervise him, as a result of which he had died