THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA3001 ZA

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1 THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA3001 ZA DIPLOMA IN THE COMMON LAW LLB ALL SCHEMES AND ROUTES BSc DEGREES WITH LAW Law of Tort Thursday 7 May 2015: Candidates will have fifteen minutes during which they may read the paper and make rough notes ONLY in their answer books. They then have the remaining THREE HOURS in which to answer the questions. Candidates should answer FOUR of the following TEN questions. Candidates should answer all parts of a question unless otherwise stated. Permitted materials None. University of London 2015 Page 1 of 5

2 1. The Rule in Rylands v Fletcher (1868) is simply one aspect of the general tort of nuisance. 2. Tort law has failed to keep pace with modern ways and means of transmitting defamatory statements. 3. Critically assess justifications for strict liability, drawing on the law governing liability for defective products to illustrate your position. 4. The Supreme Court decision in Woodland v Essex County Council (2013) has the potential to radically extend the duty of care on local authorities in respect of children under their care. 5. Dexter was a 17-year-old boy who was sentenced to three years at a youth offenders institute (a prison for young people) having been convicted of burglary and violent robbery. The institute is called Begin Again. Dexter has a history of self-harming and of suicide attempts. Despite repeated requests from his family and his GP, Begin Again refuse to place Dexter on suicide watch claiming that it is short of staff and has a limited budget for replacement staff. Sadly, just three weeks into his sentence, Dexter took an overdose of sleeping tablets and slashed his wrists. He was taken immediately by ambulance to the local hospital where he was treated for his slashed wrists by Sally, the doctor on call, but no other medical examination was carried out on Dexter. Dexter was recovering from his wrist injuries but died two days later of the overdose. Advise Begin Again and Sally of their liability in negligence to Dexter s estate. Assume that the Area Health Authority is vicariously liable for Sally if she is in breach of a duty of care. Page 2 of 5

3 6. Robert and Maria decided to hire a caravan on a holiday for a twoweek period, accompanied by their daughter (Felicity) and son (Jesse). The caravan site (owned and maintained by Holiday Caravans UK Ltd) was advertised as an ideal location for children. The first three days of the holiday were without incident, but tragedy struck on the fourth day. Felicity and Jesse went to a more secluded part of the caravan site and climbed over a low fence on which was placed a notice saying: Keep out. Danger. Once on the other side, Jesse saw some berry trees and began to eat some of the berries. Soon after, Jesse began to feel very unwell and Felicity took him back to the caravan. Robert and Maria had returned from their lunch and Maria decided to give Jesse a bath and put him to bed to rest and recover from what she believed was the effects of eating too many berries. Maria knew that the hot taps on the bath were defective but did not realise how serious the fault was. The hot water spurted out and Maria was badly scalded. Jesse died during his sleep and it was discovered that the fruit which he consumed was poisonous. Advise all parties as to their rights and liabilities under the Occupiers Liability Acts 1957 and Hasan and Devla both inherited 90,000 from their recently deceased parents. Hasan decided to invest his money in a country house retreat and Devla decided to invest in shares. Devla s best friend (Edward) was a financial adviser and during a drinks party advised Devla to invest in a company (JOY UK) which organised children s parties. Devla was very interested in the prospect but wanted to check the company s audited accounts before making a final investment decision. The audited accounts showed a healthy profit and so Devla invested 40,000. Unfortunately, the audited accounts had been prepared by an accountant (Ponsonby) who was dismissed for professional negligence. Hasan s attractive country cottage was found to have been built on insecure foundations and is now subject to a defect which poses an imminent threat to his health and safety. Devla lost the full amount of her investment and Hasan has been advised that he must spend 20,000 to cure the defects in the property. Advise all parties as to their rights and liabilities in respect of Devla and Hasan s pure economic losses. Page 3 of 5

4 8. Henry and Jancis own a country house with large gardens. They held a party for around 50 guests. Henry was late getting ready for the party and left a burning cigarette in his bedroom before going out in the garden to join Jancis and some of the guests. The party was going very well indeed until a fire broke out in Henry s bedroom. The fire quickly took hold and Henry s best friend, Michael, narrowly escaped injury when a beam fell from the ceiling support. The incident triggered a latent psychiatric condition and now Michael suffers from recurring nightmares and can no longer hold down employment. Several guests died in the fire and one of the firefighters (Tamsin) suffered posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of seeing the charred bodies. Jancis was at no point in danger of physical harm but he suffered shock after witnessing the house burn to the ground. Advise all parties on any claims in negligence. relation to the Occupiers Liability Acts. Do not advise in 9. John and Nigel are leaders of two rival gangs who both inhabit the neighbourhood of Webchester. After several small incidents of violence and intimidation between them the gangs decided to meet on a Saturday night to engage in a fight that was intended to determine which one of the two groups would remain in Webchester. In time honoured tradition, the fight began with the gang leaders. However, unknown to John, Nigel had a knife and John was so severely injured that he will require full time nursing care for the rest of his life. The stabbing was witnessed by Fred and Pete, two members of Nigel s gang. In fear for his life, Fred ran across an unattended railway crossing and was killed by a train. The train driver had fallen asleep at the controls and crossed a red light. Nigel locked the other gang member (Pete) in an unused shed. Nigel told Pete that he (Pete) would remain in the shed until he promised not to inform the police of the stabbing. Pete, who suffered from a fear of enclosed spaces, injured his hands by smashing through the glass in an effort to escape the confines of the shed. Advise all parties on their rights and obligations in respect of the intentional torts and negligence and any defences that might be raised to defeat an action in negligence. Page 4 of 5

5 10. Rentavehicle is a large taxi hire firm with a broad-based clientele, including business customers. The Managing Director (Gillian) has consulted you over two recent incidents. First, one of the taxi drivers (Nicholas) allowed a driver from another taxi firm to use his (Nicholas s) taxi between 6pm and 12pm on a Friday night. During that period, a young woman (Pamela) who was picked up in Nicholas s taxi suffered a serious sexual assault. The perpetrator of the assault has been identified as the person to whom Nicholas loaned the taxi. His name was Mitchell and he has since been arrested. The second incident concerned a longstanding business client (Troy) was driven to the airport by one of the drivers (Helen). During the drive, Troy asked Helen whether she could stop the taxi outside a restaurant and purchase a takeaway hot meal for him. Troy told Helen that he was allergic to nuts and that, on no account could the meal contain nuts. Helen was anxious to help Troy because he brought a lot of business to the taxi firm but she was also concerned that she was illegally parked. Helen completely forgot to inform the waiter of Troy s nut allergy. The meal did contain nuts and Troy suffered a severe allergic reaction and died. Advise Rentavehicle as regards its liability in respect of Troy s death and Pamela s assault. END OF PAPER Page 5 of 5