Tort Law

On this page you will find analysis on a range of Tort Law cases. If you are looking for a case that has not been added, please get in touch and the case will be added to the website as soon as possible.

Knightley v Johns & Ors [1982] 1 WLR 349
The defendant negligently caused a crash on a dangerous bend in a one-way tunnel. The police inspector at the scene of the accident forgot to close the tunnel to oncoming traffic as he should have done in accordance with standing orders, so he ordered the plaintiff officer to ride back on his motorcycle against the flow of traffic in order to do so, and the plaintiff was injured in a further collision. It was said that, in considering whether the intervening act of a third party breaks the chain of causation, the test is whether the damage is reasonably foreseeable in the sense of being a "natural and probable" result of the defendant's breach. A deliberate decision to do a positive act is more likely to break the chain of causation than a mere omission; so too; tortious conduct is more likely to break it than conduct which is not. In this case, the errors of the inspector amounted to tortious negligence which could scarcely be described as the natural and probable consequence of the original collision, and the defendant was therefore not liable.