THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA3001 ZB DIPLOMA IN THE COMMON LAW LLB ALL SCHEMES AND ROUTES BSc DEGREES WITH LAW Law of Tort Thursday 7 May 2015: 10.00 13.15 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
1. Only persons with a legal interest in property are entitled to live free of nuisance. 2. The Defamation Act 2013 has simplified the law on defamation and increased accessibility to the tort for a large section of society. 3. Tort law recognises the right of consumers to products that are absolutely safe. 4. The Supreme Court decision in Smith v Ministry of Defence (2013) promises to revolutionize the principles governing the duty of care of public bodies. 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
6. The Layton School of Performing Arts is preparing for its annual musical. The grand finale consists of a scene in which dancers on roller-skates move around a revolving stage. The revolving stage was especially designed and installed for the occasion of the play by Design All Ltd, an independent contractor with a good reputation. The day of the dress rehearsal was a disaster. Matt, a 15-year-old boy who was helping with the scene changes, became bored during one of the play s longer scenes and went behind the stage into a room, the door of which bore the notice: Do Not Enter, because the floor of the room was rotting. Matt fell through the floor and suffered serious injury. When the newly erected stage began to revolve, part of the mechanism was faulty and the stage flipped over, trapping one of the actors (Jack) between the floor and the stage and causing them serious injury. Fearing worse, the audience members tried to leave the room but were prevented from doing so because of a faulty door. A member of the School s maintenance staff (Colin) panicked and was injured during his attempt to open the door. It was found that Colin did not employ the method to open the door that was expected of an experienced maintenance person. Advise all parties on their rights and obligations under the Occupiers Liability Acts 1957 and 1984. 7. John was seriously injured at work when a piece of molten metal struck his eyes, causing him to lose sight in one eye. It is not in dispute that John s employer s (Sinks UK) failed to supply safe plant and machinery. However, John was not wearing protective goggles at the time and it was strictly against company health and safety policy for an employee to use the machinery without protective goggles. John knew of the rule but has always refused to wear the goggles. John sought advice from a solicitors firm (Advise U), specialising in medical negligence. He wanted to know about the prospects of suing his employers. He was advised by Henrietta, a newly admitted solicitor. John s case was the first she had taken on without supervision. Henrietta informed John that he would definitely be able to successfully sue his employers for negligence. Henrietta failed to advise John about contributory negligence. John spent 10,000 in pursuit of his claim, which he eventually lost because the court found that John was 100% responsible for his own injuries. Advise John as to whether he can recover his financial losses from Henrietta. Students can assume that Advise U will be vicariously liable if a tort is found to have been committed by Henrietta. Page 3 of 5
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. After a night of partying and drinking, three students in their first year of university decided to break into and take a car from the car park and take it for a joy ride. Two of the students sat at the front of the vehicle and wore seat belts but the back seat passenger did not wear a seat belt. Whilst driving along a quiet lane, they saw a fellow student (Jenny) who flagged them down in search of a lift. The driver (Barry) leaned his head out of the window and said: you are welcome to come on board but I should warn you that we are all very drunk. Concerned that the last bus had left, Jenny got into the back of the car and Barry drove on rather erratically. Jenny soon realised that a police vehicle was tracking the car and, not wishing to be caught with a drunk driver, panicked, pulled open the door (whilst the vehicle was moving) and was struck by a passing car. Jenny suffered a broken pelvis and arm. The passenger without the seatbelt (Esmee) suffered a head injury when the car pulled up suddenly. The police were anxious to get the two injured students to hospital but, not wishing the others to escape, handcuffed them both to nearby railings. The weather was dreadful and one of the students (Simon) contracted a cold, which turned to pneumonia, causing his death. Advise all parties on their rights and obligations in negligence, focusing on any defences that might be raised to defeat an action in negligence. Page 4 of 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