Question- 1

Peter is driving his car on his way into work in heavy traffic on a very rainy day, when he begins to feel unwell. Peter is diabetic and did not take his insulin before leaving home today. Although his vision becomes blurred, he continues to drive, because his wife Shana, who is travelling with him and is a brain surgeon, is scheduled to perform life-saving surgery in one hour.

Peter loses control of the car and crashes into oncoming traffic. One of the cars that he crashes into is being driven by Verity. Verity is a chemical engineer and is transporting a large quantity of highly corrosive chemicals in the back of her van. In the collision, the chemicals erupt and are spilled all over the cars and the road. Verity suffers a broken neck and ribs and the corrosive chemicals cause her skin to peel over her whole body. She is unable to work for 12 months.

Another car, driven at speed by Camilla, is unable to stop and crashes into Peter and Verity. It later transpires that Camilla was talking on her mobile phone at the time. Camilla suffers serious facial injuries and fractured bones. Camilla was on her way to a job interview at the time of the accident. Is she had secured the job her salary would have increased by 50 percent.

Shana loses an arm in the crash and becomes so depressed at the loss of her career that she kills herself three months later.

Evelyn was cycling and is hit on the leg by a piece of flying metal from the first crash. Evelyn's leg is seriously cut. The injury activates a dormant malignant condition from which she dies shortly afterwards.

Advise all parties on their potential claims and liabilities in negligence.

Question- 2

BTV, a TV company, are showing a live broadcast of a group of children on a ride in

a hot air balloon. The children have won the ride as a prize awarded by one of the

programmes shown on BTV's channel. A few minutes after the balloon took off, it

exploded in a ball of flame and all the children, with the exception of Sophie,

perished immediately. BTV have admitted that they used a faulty gas pump to

operate the balloon.

Advise the following people on their potential claims against BTV:

1. Afzal, the father of one of the children, who was watching the live television broadcast at home.He is now suffering from clinical depression after seeing the face of a child he believes was his daughter Aisha in the midst of the flames and explosion.

1. Ben, an employee of BTV, who rushed to the balloon, when it crashed to the ground and arrived at the scene within minutes. He saw the bodies of the children in the wreckage but was unable to help them, as the heat was too intense. He is suffering from post- traumatic stress disorder.
2. Cashley, a spectator at the event, who saw the explosion. He has now been admitted to hospital, because of his reaction to the horrific events he witnessed. He is suffering from anxiety neurosis.
3. Daz, the father of Sophie. Sophie survived the explosion but suffered extensive burns and died in hospital 14 days later. Daz was by Sophie's side throughout her treatment in hospital and as a result of watching her die, he is suffering from depression and is unable to sleep at night due to recurrent nightmares.

Question- 3

Pippa and Ebenezer decide to go shopping to Ekea a large store selling flat pack furniture. They are accompanied by Sarah, their 5 year old daughter and by Michael, their 14 year old son.

After parking the car on the car park, they walk to the store.Ekea car park maintenance and security is subcontracted to Secure-4-You. On the way into the store Ebenezer trips on a large pool of diesel which was left after a wagon delivered furniture and materials yesterday. He hurts his elbow in his fall. His Ducci designer watch is also broken.

Pippa decides that it will be easier to shop without having to keep an eye on Sarah all the time so she leaves her in the play area, which is filled with multi-coloured balls and rope and ladders, to play with the other children. Sarah climbs one of the ladders and lets go and breaks her leg in the fall.

As they are walking around the shop looking at furniture, Michael becomes bored. He wanders off behind a cordoned off area, where a show bedroom is being assembled.He starts jumping up and down on the bed and bounces off it, hitting his head on the sharp-edged bedside table. His new i-phone falls out of his pocket and is broken.

Notices at the entrance to the store and the play area exclude liability for any damage, however caused.

Consider the parties' potential claims and liabilities under the law on occupiers' liability.

Question- 4

James started renting Warsley Cottage, Houghsmead, eight years ago and has lived there ever since with his wife Lillian and their seven-year-old daughter Hermione. They loved the "village feel" of Houghsmead, which is a semi-rural area and some features of the cottage date back to the Tudor period. Many people there keep poultry and other animals and keep a vegetable garden or even have crops in the fields.

Their landlord and closest neighbour, Pippa, who is 87 years old, is one such keeper of poultry. She and her family have been born and bred in Houghsmead for generations and she owns a lot of the local land. For the last month, her cockerel has started to crow at all hours of the day and night. James and Lillian find this disruptive in the extreme.

Three years ago, Skybright Ltd, a factory that manufactures electrical components, set up on the edge of Houghsmead, about half a mile from Warsley Cottage. The local council and many local residents welcomed the factory, as a source of well-paid employment for the local people.

The factory emits smoke throughout the day between 6am and 6pm.The Tudor features of the cottage have started to show rotting and corrosion, which appear to be due to the smoke, as it leaves black deposits on the cottage throughout the day, but not when the factory is not operating.

Two weeks ago, the factory started operating a new piece of machinery, which causes intense intermittent vibrations. This caused some plaster and a light fitting to fall from the bedroom ceiling during the night, which landed on Lillian, resulting in a broken arm.

Unfortunately, the weather conditions were extremely severe recently. Yesterday in the midst of a violent storm, Pippa's reservoir of diesel was struck by lightning and overturned, and its contents poured into the garden of Wearsley Cottage, which caused extensive damage to plants and equipment stored there.

Explain whether Pippa and Skybright Ltd have any liability under the tort of private nuisance, including any liability under the rule of Rylands v Fletcher.