Honey Rose was an optometrist who negligently failed to perform her statutory duty to conduct an intra-ocular examination on her seven year old patient. The test of reasonable foreseeability, like that of but-for cause, is plainly based on the courts’ perception that an individual should not be liable in tort for damage beyond the scope of the personal responsibility. Donoghue was not the first case to attempt to sever the dependence of negligence on contract; a few years previously, Lord Ormidale in Mullen, said, ‘. That’s because reasonable foreseeability doesn’t come into it: that’s another legal concept altogether. Unlike [remoteness of loss], causation does not depend on what the parties knew or contemplated might happen as a result of a breach as at the date of the contract. Areas of applicable law: Tort law – Private nuisance – Foreseeability. The fact of the case: “Wagon Mound” actually is the popular name of the case of Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd (1961). Network Rail Ltd v Morris (2004): private nuisance – the test of sensitivity vs foreseeability. This is a relative simple construct yet the concept still complicates legal disputes. That is, the loss will only be recoverable if it was in the contemplation of the parties. In the case of Adigun vs AG Oyo State (1987) 1 NWLR pt 53, p.678 @ 720 , the court held per Eso JSC that the reasonable man test to be used would be a reasonable man in the position and state of life of the tortfeasor. The test is in essence a test of foreseeability. Foreseeability within the law is an intricate concept that has varying outcomes both in and out of the construction industry. Discusses why the ‘but for’ test remains the touchstone of causation in clinical negligence cases. Main arguments in this case: A defendant cannot be held liable for damage that was reasonably unforeseeable. Main arguments in this case: Private nuisance and the test of sensitivity vs foreseeability. . The loss must be foreseeable not … However, the test of reasonable forseeability would be reasonable forseeability by a reasonable man. The test of reasonable foreseeability simply requires the notional objective exercise of putting a reasonably prudent professional in the shoes of the person whose conduct is under scrutiny and asking whether, at the moment of breach of the duty on which the prosecution rely, that person ought reasonably (i.e. Reasonable foreseeability after R v Rose Chris Gillespie examines the case of R v Rose from a health and safety perspective. . An event is foreseeable if a reasonable person can predict or foresee the outcome. Suggests foreseeability will not be a difficult hurdle for a claimant to surmount in most cases, save for in ‘information’ cases where it is the nature of the information provided which is important. Areas of applicable law: Tort law – Negligence – foreseeability. Contract: In contract, the traditional test of remoteness is set out in Hadley v Baxendale ([1854] 9 Ex 341). The issue of suitability was to be defined by reference to the test of reasonable foreseeability, but the defendants could not escape liability unless they could show that the accident’s circumstances were unforeseeable or exceptional. The test of foreseeability The traditional approach used to be that once negligence had been established, a defendant was liable for all of the damage that followed no matter how extraordinary or unpredictable, provided that it flowed directly from the breach of duty. 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