Liability in negligence Introduction

Lesson Objectives I will be able to distinguish between criminal and civil law I will be able to distinguish between evidence and procedure I will be able to define negligence

Negligence Negligence is an area of the law of tort This is a French word for wrong A ‘tort’ is a civil wrong other than a breach of contract or a breach of trust The purpose of the law of tort is to provide remedies when one person has been affected by another’s acts or omissions and the law considers that a remedy should be available The most usual remedy is damages (financial compensation)

Negligence requires three elements: i. A duty of care being owed to the claimant by the defendant ii. That duty of care being broken, as the required standard of care has not been reached by the defendant iii. That broken duty must have caused the loss complained of, and the loss must not be too remote a consequence These three elements are known as duty, breach and damage

Civil law Civil law is concerned with settling disputes between individuals ‘individuals’ includes businesses and sometimes the Government The key difference between civil and criminal law is that civil law is primarily designed to settle disputes, not punish wrongdoing There are many areas of civil law including that of tort (how many can you think of? Negligence is the one area of tort that we will study

A civil case is started by the person who has suffered loss (the claimant) as the result of a wrong which only directly affects him A typical negligence case is a claim for losses and injuries resulting from a car crash The claim requires proof that the defendant was negligent The claimant’s usual remedy is financial compensation (damages) Thus a successful claim in negligence against a driver who caused a car crash will result in damages paid to the claimant to cover his financial losses and to compensate for his injuries There are other remedies available – not relevant to your syllabus

The civil process This is the procedure by which a claim makes its way through the court system, so that the court can decide whether the claim will succeed and, if so, what amount of damages should be awarded This can be a long and complicated process for both parties, but it is designed to keep delay to a minimum through case management Once a person is advised that they are likely to have a good claim in negligence, the major consideration is to obtain sufficient evidence of the losses suffered

This is straightforward for a damaged car, but personal injuries are much more difficult to calculate, due to things such as loss of earnings Eventually the claimant may have to go to court for some or all of the issues to be tried and, if the claim is successful, to calculate their award of damages The length and complexity of the process depends on the nature of the injuries, whether the evidence is clear, and whether the defendant tries to claim that they were not negligent

There are rules of procedure that prescribe the court in which the case will be heard and the framework for deciding the case For many reasons, such as the length of time without compensation, the stress of a court case and the question of cost, most negligence cases are settled out of court

There are rules of civil evidence that set out how the facts must be proved and the degree of certainty that is required The burden of proof is the obligation on a party to establish the facts in issue in a case to the required degree of certainty (Standard of proof) I order to prove their case In a civil trial the burden is upon the claimant to prove the liability of the defendant

The standard of proof is on a balance of probabilities This is a lower standard of proof than criminal cases, which is beyond reasonable doubt The balance of probabilities has been defined as ‘more likely than not’ or ’51 per cent’ Effectively, this is just a matter of convincing the judge that the claimant is right in his version of events Juries are not used in negligence trials, which take place in the County Court of High Court Queen’s Bench Division

Negligence If a person is to succeed in a negligence case, there must be proof that the act of the defendant falls within the relevant definitions of what must be proved for a successful claim in negligence There are 3 parts to any claim in negligence that must be proved: That a duty of care was owed by the defendant to the claimant That the defendant broke that duty of care; this means his act was not performed to the standard the law requires which is that of the reasonable man That the broken duty caused the loss complained of, and that the law recognises that the loss is not too remote from the act

Exam structure