You will be given five minutes at the end of the examination to complete the front of any answer books used. May/June 2015 LW1TOR 2014/15 A 001

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1 On admission to the examination room, you should acquaint yourself with the instructions below. You must listen carefully to all instructions given by the invigilators. You may read the question paper, but must not write anything until the invigilator informs you that you may start the examination. You will be given five minutes at the end of the examination to complete the front of any answer books used. May/June 2015 (unannotated) Statute Book and Dictionaries Permitted UNIVERSITY OF READING TORT (LW1TOR) Two hours Answer THREE questions, AT LEAST ONE from EACH Section.

2 Page 2 SECTION A ANSWER AT LEAST ONE QUESTION FROM THIS SECTION 1. Alf recently qualified to drive Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and gained a position as a lorry driver with Big Deliveries Ltd (BDL). BDL drivers own their own lorries. This is facilitated by a finance scheme operated by BDL which enables the drivers to buy their vehicles. The lorries must be painted in the company livery and BDL drivers must only serve BDL customers. One day Alf was late with a delivery and took a short cut. He misjudged the width of his vehicle and tried to cross a narrow bridge over a railway. The lorry dislodged bricks onto the track below causing the derailment of a passing passenger train operated by Choo-Choo Trains Ltd (CCTL). Many passengers were trapped and seriously injured. Denise, a passing special constable (part-time volunteer police officer) went to the aid of trapped passengers pending the arrival of the emergency services. She now suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the horrific injuries which she witnessed. Ed, a passenger, was seriously injured in the accident. He is 50 years old and worked as a lawyer. He was due to retire at 65 but his life expectancy has been reduced to 5 years. His wife, Freda, has undertaken to care for him at home. The couple also have an 18-yearold daughter, Gina, who is due to start university next year. Train Track Ltd (TTL), which owns and maintains the railway infrastructure, had to close the line for several days while repairs were made. This meant that it was contractually obliged to pay compensation to CCTL which could not operate services during the closure. Discuss the liability, if any of Alf and BDL.

3 Page 3 2. Fastbuck Ltd is a property development company. It recently purchased a disused factory site. The property remained derelict for several months while Fastbuck formulated plans for redeveloping the site. During this time the following incidents occurred. Fastbuck erected wooden hoardings around the site and engaged a security company to check on the site twice a day. However, Greg, a boy of 12 years, managed to climb over the hoarding and enter the site. On entering the factory building he fell through rotten floorboards and was seriously injured. Harriet, an environmental health officer working for Whiteknights Borough Council, visited the property to investigate the accident involving Greg. Harriet forgot her safety boots and sustained severe lacerations after standing on broken glass in thin soled shoes. Later, a group of squatters broke into the site and set up camp. They lit a fire to keep warm which quickly spread out of control because of the amount of rubbish lying about and pools of oil leaked from old machinery. Sam, one of the firemen called to fight the fire, was seriously injured when a ceiling collapsed on him. The fire spread to a neighbouring house, owned by Tracy, causing serious damage. Tracy escaped without physical injury but has been emotionally scarred by the sight of her burning property. Discuss the liabilities of Fastbuck, if any, which may arise from these incidents. 3. In 1990 Morrisey's Ltd, a large supermarket chain, gained planning permission to build a large distribution depot. It was built on hitherto agricultural land and there were few neighbours in the vicinity. Last year a new residential development of 150 homes was built near the entrance and main loading area of the depot. Lorries going to and from the depot have to pass through the middle of the estate. The new residents have complained about the engine noise which this TURN OVER

4 Page 4 causes late into the night and from very early in the morning. Amy has to park on the road outside her house and on a number of occasions her car has been damaged by lorries squeezing past. Bob has lived in a large old house on the other side of the depot since 1995 and has not previously been bothered by the depot. However, last year he decided to become a self-employed hypnotherapist and installed a garden office at the bottom of his long garden which backs onto the depot. The noise of the depot and the harsh floodlighting at night mean that he has been unable to use the office. On another part of the depot large amounts of waste packaging material, including cardboard, wooden pallets, plastic and polystyrene is routinely accumulated pending its removal by a waste management company. Recently, an unidentified person set fire to the waste. The fire spread to a neighbouring farm owned by Giles. Giles hitched up a water bowser to his tractor and drove onto the depot site with a view to putting out the fire. He demolished a fence in the process. Discuss the liabilities, if any, of Morrisey s and Giles. SECTION B ANSWER AT LEAST ONE QUESTION FROM THIS SECTION 4. In what ways, if at all, has the law of defamation responded to the new challenges created by technological developments such as the internet and social media? 5. [I]f one asks which of the parties, the workman or the employers, should suffer from this inherent evidential difficulty, the answer as a matter of policy or justice should be that it is the creator of the risk who, ex hypothesi, must be taken to have foreseen the possibility of

5 Page 5 damage, who should bear its consequences. (McGhee v NCB [1973] 1 WLR 1, per Lord Wilberforce at 6F). Discuss in relation to problems of causation in cases of scientific uncertainty. 6. To what extent, if at all, does the law of tort strike a fair balance between protecting the autonomy of patients and the need to preserve their life and health? (End of Question Paper)