BREACH OF STATUTORY DUTY

1
BREACH OF STATUTORY DUTY

• A tort in its own right

2
A complex area of law involving number of
propositions.

• Claims arise in tort for breach of duties created
  by statute to deal with a wide range of issues,
  often involving health and safety
• Note the overlap with employers liability
• Heavy emphasis throughout on statutory
  interpretation

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Claimant must prove

• the statute was intended to create civil
  liability.
• the statutory duty was owed to the individual
  claimant
• the statute imposed the duty on the defendant
• the defendant was in breach of the duty
• the claimant suffered damage as a result, which
  was of a type contemplated by the statute.

4
The statute was intended to create civil
liability

• Statute in question would not normally be
  concerned with civil claims
• Courts take various factors into account when
  deciding upon the intention of Parliament
• the general context of the statute?
• the precise nature of the statutory provisions?

5
The statutory duty was owed to the individual
claimant

• Cases turn on their own facts
• Hewett v Alf Browns Transport 1992
• Maguire v Hartland Wolff plc 2005
• PRP Architects v Reid 2007

6
The statutory duty was imposed on the particular
defendant

• Only if the statute imposes a duty on the
  defendant can a civil claim be maintained
• Majrowski v Guys and St Thomass NHS Trust
  2006

7
The defendant was in breach of the statutory duty

• Note possible reversal of burden of proof to
  the advantage of the claimant
• must or shall usually mean strict liability
• Courts frequently lean against the imposition of
  strict liability unless the statute specifically
  states that strict liability will apply.

8
Reasonably practicable

• In Nimmo v Alexander Cowan and Sons 1968 the
  House of Lords held that reasonably
  practicable, used in various statutes, required
  the employer to demonstrate that he or she had
  taken such precautions as were reasonably
  practicable or that precautions were
  impracticable.

9
Damage must be of a type which the statute
contemplated

• There can only be a claim for breach of statutory
  duty if the damage which was suffered was within
  the contemplation of the objects of the statute.

10
Test to be applied

• Ordinary test of reasonable foresight appliesin
  claims for breach of statutory duty.
• As long as the damage is of a type that was
  reasonably foreseeable, the extent of the damage
  does not need to be foreseeable. In Corr v IBC
  Vehicles 2006 EWCA Civ 331, the defendant was
  liable for a suicide, where the deceased had
  become depressed following injuries sustained as
  a result of a breach of duty. It was held by the
  Court of Appeal that it is not necessary to that
  suicide was a type of damage that was separate
  from psychiatric injury or personal injury.

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Breaches of EU legislation

• In Fracovitch v Italy 1995
• Three Rivers DC v Bank of England (No 3) 1984
• R v Secretary of State for Transport ex part
  Factortame (No 5) 2000

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Human Rights Developments

• Marcic v Thames Water Utilities Ltd2003
• Secretary of State For Justice v Walker
  Secretary of State For Justice v James 2008

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Defences

• Normal tort defences apply where appropriate