Richard Vowles, a rugby hooker, was paralysed when a scrum collapsed after the referee permitted an inexperienced player to join the front row without proper enquiry. The Court of Appeal upheld that amateur referees owe players a duty of care to enforce safety rules, and the referee's breach caused the injury.
Approved foster parents told the local authority they would not accept a child known or suspected to be a sexual abuser. The authority nevertheless placed such a boy, who abused their children. The House of Lords held the parents’ psychiatric injury claim was arguable and should not be struck out.
Donoghue v Stevenson established the "neighbour principle," laying the foundations for duty of care and modern negligence law.
Mr Barratt instructed his solicitors to revise his will to benefit his reconciled daughters, but they negligently delayed and he died before execution. The daughters received nothing under the old will. The House of Lords held, by majority, that the solicitors owed them a tortious duty of care.
A mother issued a wrongful birth claim after her son was born with spina bifida. Following her suicide and subsequent negligent delay by her solicitors, her estate and the child’s father sued the solicitors and barrister. The Court of Appeal granted limited permission to appeal only on the father’s personal duty of care claim, refusing permission on quantum.
September 13, 2026
National Case Law Archive
September 3, 2026
National Case Law Archive
September 3, 2026
National Case Law Archive