How is a Duty of Care Now Established in Negligence Claims?
The rule in Donoghue v. Stevenson has been refined since its inception by decades of negligence cases. Now, whether a duty of care exists in a novel situation would be determined by the decision in Caparo v. Dickman. The case of Caparo Industries Plc v. Dickman [1990] 1 All ER 568 retains the requirement that negligence is reliant on a duty of care but has summarised the refined parameters for establishing whether such a duty exists. Under the new rules, the existence of a duty states will depend on three factors: • the foreseeability of damage occurring; • the proximity of the relationship between the claimant and defendant; and • whether it is just in the circumstances to impose a duty of care. Donoghue v. Stevenson was a landmark case that established a set of simple parameters for determining not only whether an end consumer had a right to compensation for injury and loss resulting from a defective product, but also whether a duty of care existed in all cases of negligence. Its inf
