I am the company solicitor for Everlasting Estates Ltd., and have been required to draft a report for the Board of Directors of Everlasting Estates, explaining the company's liability and any defenses which the company may rely on.

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Glossary Terms

  1. Tort – A series of duties imposed primarily by the law to regulate human contact.

  1. Damages – Monetary compensation.

  1. Plaintiff – Person who incites civil proceedings.

  1. Defendant – The person who is accused of a crime.

  1. Negligence – If a person acts carelessly and as a result of that carelessness, another is injured or suffers loss it may be that, that person is negligent in the law of tort. Not all careless acts will allow the wronged person to sue the wrongdoer for negligence.

  1. Common Law – The law made by judges and contains in the decisions of judges. Common Law requires the employer to:

  • Owe duty of care towards his employees
  • Provide competent staff
  • Provide a safe system at work
  • Provide safe apparatus
  • Provide safe premises

The major statutory duties giving rise to employer’s civil liability are:

  • Construction regulations
  • Factories Act
  • Simultaneous criminal offence under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.

Duty of care – The plaintiff (victim) must show that the defendant (wrongdoer) owes him a duty of care in law.

Breach of duty – If established that a duty of care is owed to the plaintiff by the defendant, then the question of fact is whether or not the defendant is in breach of that duty of care. Breach of duty of care will have occurred if the defendant is shown to have acted in an unreasonable manner in the circumstances.

Resulting damage to the plaintiff – The plaintiff has to show that the defendant’s breach of duty and that nature of the loss caused the loss or damage he has suffered or damage suffered was foreseeable.

  1. Contributory negligence – Negligence to partially the responsibility of the plaintiff to bear. In relation to causation, fault is NOT entirely the legal responsibility of either the plaintiff or the defendant.

  1. Consent – This deals with the situation where the plaintiff has suffered damage through the negligence of the defendant, but has contributed to his damage through his own negligence.

Abstract

The two legal problems caused on site encountered by Everlasting Estates Ltd are:

  1. The company was engaged to construct a new Sixth Form College for Mudtown Metropolitan Borough Council. One of their Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers, Bill Speed, whilst delivering building materials to the site, carelessly reversed his lorry and injured a fellow worker, Bob Thorpe. The latter employee, contrary to statutory regulations, was not wearing a hard hat and there is evidence that his injuries would have been far less serious, had the regulations been complied with. It appears that the hard hats were available but the Everlasting Estates Ltd., did not supervise their use.

  1. Charles is employed on the site and amongst his job functions he is required to carry out some welding work. Charles has suffered an eye injury whilst using protective goggles which were defective. 

I am the company solicitor for Everlasting Estates Ltd., and have been required to draft a report for the Board of Directors of Everlasting Estates, explaining the company’s liability and any defenses which the company may rely on.


To: The Board of Directors of Everlasting Estates Ltd.

From: Farah Butt

Date: 30th May 2002

Report

Findings – Problem 1

One of the Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers, Bill Speed, employee of Everlasting Estates Ltd., whilst delivering building materials to the site where the new Sixth Form College was under construction, carelessly reversed his lorry and injured a fellow worker, Bob Thorpe. Bob Thorpe due to contrary to statutory regulations was not wearing a hard hat.

Findings – Solution 1

This case states that Bob Thorpe received serious injuries, may including head injuries and this could be prevented if Bob Thorpe was wearing a hard hat. The Everlasting Estates failed to meet the Heath & Safety at Work regulations and the common law rules. Bob failed to meet the Health & Safety regulations by not wearing a hard hat.

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Negligence is the most important tort and rises many claims annually as it affects many aspects of life. Negligence has arisen in Bob’s circumstances as he received injuries due to failure of taking care required by law. The injuries to Bob were caused due to the following circumstances:

  • Bob was not wearing a hard hat otherwise his injuries would have been far less serious
  • The regulations were complied with by Bob and mostly by Everlasting Estates
  • Hard hats made available to employees not supervised to use them by Everlasting Estates

The above can affect the ...

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