7. Lords Steyn and Hoffman stated that it is not necessary to foresee the precise injury that occurred, but injury of a given description. The Wagon Mound (No. 2 comes out a different way based on different lawyering. If it is lost or damaged. The Wagon Mound (No 1) Due to the negligence of the defendants’ employees, some oil from the ship leaked into the water. 1, you can look at the circumstances surrounding the accident to find out if the risk was really foreseeable. We use cookies and by using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. Wagon Mound Case; The defendant is not liable in respect of abnormal sensitiveness. Thus, the Wagon Mound No.2 and Hughes are compatible. As a result Morts continued to work, takin… Wagon Mound (No. in the egg-shell skull cases such as Smith v Leech Brain & Co.[5]. The Polemis rule, by substituting “direct” for “reasonably foreseeable” consequence leads to a conclusion equally illogical and unjust’. Thus, by the rule of Wagon Mound No. The court in this case held that a party can only be held liable for damage if it was reasonably foreseeable that such damage would be caused. The sparks from the welding however ignited some cotton rag soaked in oil and started fire causing damage to the wharf. It was determined that once some harm was foreseeable, the defendant would be liable for the full extent of the harm. The Wagon Mound (No 1) test is less generous to claimants than the direct consequence test because it may impose an artificial limit on the extent of damages that can be claimed. In essence, in negligence, foreseeability is the criterion not only for the existence of a duty of care but also for And the description is formulated by reference to the nature of the risk that ought to have been foreseen." Synopsis of Rule of Law. Facts. b) What are the ingredients of 'False Imprisonment'. Unfortunately, the boat fell on one of the boys, seriously injuring him. A claimant must prove that the damage was not only caused by the defendant but that it was not too remote. [The Wagon Mound represents English law. Lord Reid said at 845. Wagon Mound, while taking on bunkering oil at the Caltex wharf in Sydney … This will particularly be the case when there are a significant number of links constituting the chain. The court held that the secondary damage caused by the squatters was too remote. Negligence—Remoteness—The Wagon Mound Rule - Volume 20 Issue 1. Morts Dock & Engineering Co (The Wagon Mound) owned the wharf, which they used to perform repairs on other ships. How to get a copy of UK naturalisation certificate? Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd or "Wagon Mound (No 1)" [1961] UKPC 1 is a landmark tort law case, which imposed a remoteness rule for causation in negligence.The Privy Council held that a party can only be held liable for damage that was reasonably foreseeable. Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, commonly known as Wagon Mound (No. Wagon Mound was moored 600 feet from the Plaintiff’s wharf when, due the Defendant’s negligence, she discharged furnace oil into the bay causing minor injury to the Plaintiff’s property. Please click below to access the Wagon Mound School Board's Ground Rules for Public Comment. He went on to say at p 423, that a man should be responsible for the necessary or probable consequences of his act (or any other similar description of them), "not because they are natural or necessary or probable, but because, since they have this quality, it is judged by the standard of the reasonable man that he ought to have foreseen them.". Areas of applicable law: Tort law – Negligence – foreseeability. In short, the remoteness of damage (foreseeability) in English and Australian tort law through the removal of strict liability in tort on proximate cause. Before this decision in The Wagon Mound No.1 defendants were held responsible to compensate for all the direct consequences of their negligence, a rule clarified by the decision in Re Polemis and Furness, Withy & Co Ltd [1921] 3 KB 560. Overseas Tankship had a ship, the Wagon Mound, docked in Sydney Harbour in October 1951. The council allowed an abandoned boat to remain on its land and, over a period of time, two boys began to paint and repair it. In Re Polemis[1] while docked, workers employed to unload the ship negligently dropped a plank into the hold, which struck something, causing a spark that ignited petrol vapour lying in the hold. Barnett v Chelsea & Kensington HMC: What is “but for test”? Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, [1] commonly known as Wagon Mound (No. The child was burned. In this case, there was a construction work being done by post office workers on the road. Your email address will not be published. In both cases, the claimants could recover damages. 179. The traditional approach was that once a breach in the duty of care had been established, a defendant was liable for all the consequent damage no matter how unusual or unpredictable that damage might be. on Wagon Mound 1: Reasonable foreseeability of damage. Morts asked the manager of the dock that the Wagon Moundhad been berthed at if the oil could catch fire on the water, and was informed that it could not. A large quantity of oil was spilled into the harbour. Contributory negligence on the part of the dock owners was also relevant in the decision, and was essential to the outcome, alt… This means that the reasonable foreseeability test is not always appropriate for cases where the acts of the claimant may demonstrate some fault. Skip to main content Accessibility help We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. When he came out he kicked over one of the lamps, which fell into the hole and caused an explosion. The court in this case held that a party can only be held liable for damage if it was reasonably foreseeable that such damage would be caused. A defendant cannot be held liable for damage that was reasonably unforeseeable. Because of the damage, the claimant moved out and squatters moved in, causing further damage to the house. If the line of … The claimants were welding at the nearby wharf about 200 meters away. on Wagon Mound 1: Reasonable foreseeability of damage. 1) [1961] The Wagon Mound (No. Viscount Simonds held at pp 422–423: A man must be considered to be responsible for the probable consequences of his act. Contributory negligence on the part … The fire spread rapidly causing destruction of some boats and the wharf. … The traditional approach was that once a breach in the duty of care had been established, a defendant was liable for all the consequent damage no matter how unusual or unpredictable that damage might be. Citation: Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock & Engineering Co Ltd (The "Wagon Mound" (No 1)) [1961] AC 388 This information can be found in the Textbook: Sappideen, Vines, Grant & Watson, Torts: Commentary and Materials (Lawbook Co, 10th ed, 2009), pp. 1), is a landmark tort law case, which imposed a remoteness rule for causation in negligence. In Re Polemiswhile docked, workers employed to unload the ship negligently dropped a plank into the hold, which struck something, causing a spark that ignited petrol vapour lying in the hold. Roscorla v Thomas (1842): consideration must not be past. Held: In the first instance the defendants were held liable for the damage however the Privy Council disagreed. Your email address will not be published. The Privy Council replaced the direct consequence test with the requirement that, in order to be recoverable, damage must be foreseeable in all the circumstances, thus, although pollution was a foreseeable consequence of the spillage, an outbreak of fire was not. 2) [1967] Thoburn v Sunderland City Council [2002] Thomas v Clydesdale Bank [2010] Thomas v National Union of Miners [1986] Thomas v Sawkins [1935] Thomas v Sorrell (1673) Thomas v Thomas [1842] Thompson v Foy [2010] Thompson v Gibson [1841] Thompson v … Robinson v. Kilvert: D was in the ground floor, and was manufaturing paper boxes. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. The above rule in Wagon Mound’s case was affirmed by a decision of the House of Lords in the case of Hughes vs Lord Advocate (1963) AC 837. Smith v The London and South Western Railway Company, British Columbia and Vancouver Island Spa, Lumber and Saw Mill Co Ltd v Nettleship, Simpson v London and North Western Railway Co, Seven Seas Properties Ltd v Al-Essa (No.2), Hydraulic Engineering Co Ltd v McHaffie, Goslett & Co, Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd, H Parsons (Livestock) Ltd v Uttley Ingham & Co Ltd, Satef-Huttenes Albertus SpA v Paloma Tercera Shipping Co SA, Commonwealth of Australia v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd, South Australia Asset Management Co v York Montague, Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, Worldlii links to resources on the subject of damages, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Remoteness_in_English_law&oldid=979760395, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, William Prosser, ‘Palsgraf Revisited’ (1952) 52 Michigan Law Review 1, This page was last edited on 22 September 2020, at 16:53. The defendants were the owner of an oil tanker which was loading oil at Sydney harbour in Australia when due to the negligence of the defendants’ employees, some oil leaked into the water and spread. In negligence, the test of causation not only requires that the defendant was the cause in fact, but also requires that the loss or damage sustained by the claimant was not too remote. The Rule post Wagon Mound The first indication of the continued status of the rule came from Smith v Leech ~rain'l a case decided one year after the Wagon Mound decision was handed down. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In English law, remoteness is a set of rules in both tort and contract, which limits the amount of compensatory damages for a wrong. The" Wagon Mound" unberthed and set sail very shortly after. Crude oil tanker Lucky Lady in shipyard in Gdańsk. The oil drifted under a wharf thickly coating the water and the shore where other ships were being repaired. THE WAGON MOUND The Wagon Mound (as the decision will be called for short) involved liability for damage done by fire, like many of the leading English and American cases on remoteness of damage. The ground on which this case has been decided against the appellant is that the accident was of an unforeseeable type. Wagon Mound (1961) Established the rule in negligence that where the defendant has been negligent, the claimant can only be compensated for damage suffered which is reasonably foreseeable (i.e. What are the ingredients of Defamation? UK naturalisation: Who can act as referees. (at para 37) So, in Hughes it was foreseeable that a child might be injured by falling in the hole or being burned by a lamp or by a combination of both. Although the injuries were not actually sustained in a foreseeable way, the injuries that actually materialised fell within the predictable range. Wagon Mound is a village in Mora County, New Mexico, United States.It is named after and located at the foot of a butte called Wagon Mound, which was a landmark for covered wagon trains and traders going up and down the Santa Fe Trail and is now Wagon Mound National Historic Landmark.It was previously an isolated ranch … They were told to continue with the welding as it was believed that oil on water would not burn. The council was liable for the damage caused by the broken water main, but the land owner is responsible for keeping trespassers at bay. Required fields are marked *. This caused oil to leak from the ship into the Sydney Harbour. The defendants, charterers of the as. In Wagon Mound No. Hence the defendants were not liable. 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