Analysis of Tort Law in Business: Liability of Negligence in Damages

BUSINESS LAW
Student Name
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Issue
The central issue is to determine whether Sam is liable for the respective damages incurred to the
potential plaintiffs based on the given case facts. The given facts need to be analysed in the
context of tort law.
Rule
There are three main conditions that need to be present in regards to the applicability of tort of
negligence. The first condition is presence of duty of care directed towards the plaintiff on behalf
of the defendant. This can be determined with the help of neighbour test. The second condition is
to ascertain whether there is breach of duty or not on the part of defendant by not taking essential
precautions in regards to avoid any foreseeable damages. The last condition is to determine the
presence of damages faced by the concerned plaintiff that have resulted due to the breach of duty
to care on behalf of the defendant (Davenport & Parker, 2014, p.75-76). A detailed description
regarding these three conditions is given below.
Neighbour test is considered an imperative test to determine whether a duty of care on part of the
defendant exists towards the plaintiff for the give situation or not (Harvey, 2009). According to
this test, neighbour is defined as any entity that the respective action doer considers may be
significantly affected or can be reasonable harmed by his/her selection of either action or
inaction for a particular scenario. In accordance of the verdict given in Donoghue v. Stevenson
[1932] AC 562 at 580, the duty of care would exist for the action doer only when the action or
inaction of the action doer can have the possibility to result some significant foreseeable
damages to the plaintiff. The court will examine various scenarios in order to decide whether the
incurred damages are foreseeable or not (Gibson & Fraser, 2014, p.53-54).
It is apparent from the above that action doer must undertake the essential measures in regards to
prevent any foreseeable damages for plaintiff. In this regards, it is imperative that defendant who
owes duty to care to the neighbour should also define the possible risk related to breach of duty
of care. This is because the breach of duty of care can result in significant damages and in this
regards, there is a possibility of loss of neighbour’s life and loss of asset and so forth. Breach of
duty of care arises when the action doer has not taken appropriate measures towards the
concerned plaintiffs in regards to minimize or prevent foreseeable risks as highlighted in Bolton
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