THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALL

LA2001 October
LLB
BSc DEGREES WITH LAW

Tort law

Thursday 10 October 2019: 10.00 – 13.15

DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL TOLD TO BEGIN

Candidates will have THREE HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES in which to

answer the questions. Candidates must answer all parts of a question unless
otherwise stated.

Candidates must answer the COMPULSORY questions in PART A and

THREE from the EIGHT questions in PART B.

Permitted materials
None.

© University of London 2019

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PART A

Candidates must answer these COMPULSORY questions about the article

‘Legislating Dangerously: Bad Samaritans, Good Society, and the Heroism Act
2015’ (2017).

1. (a) Mulheron compares the objectives of the Social Action,

Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015 (SARAH Act) to the existing
common law.

i. What aspect of the common law does she allege overlaps

with the Act?
ii. What cases does she cite to illustrate this?

(b) It is alleged that a number of the terms and concepts in the

SARAH Act are imprecise. What are they and what is lacking in
their definition?

(c) In the article, comparisons are made to similar legislation in other

jurisdictions. Describe these comparisons and explain what
points Mulheron is using the international comparisons to make.

(d) Mulheron describes the SARAH Act to be both ‘unfortunate’ and

‘disappointing’.

Explain why.

PART B

Candidates must answer THREE questions from this part.

2. ‘Tort law has been described as the law of individual responsibility.’

Discuss.

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3. Lord Sandwell owns a large country estate in Oxhampton. He develops
it as an environmentally-friendly residential adventure centre (the ‘Swing
High Centre’) for stressed-out executives. To this end, he has
constructed a network of ropes, ladders, and bridges in the canopy of
his trees for them to come and ’Swing High’ from tree to tree.
Unfortunately, misplaced marketing has led to the majority of his
customers being large, noisy groups of young people. Lord Sandwell
also provides facilities for paintballing and a quad-bike course. In line
with his stated environmental policy, Lord Sandwell has recently begun
to use large quantities of seaweed as fertiliser for his large organic
vegetable patch. He has been encouraged to do so by the council’s
recycling officer Hugo.

Lord Sandwell has received complaints from:

(a) Marilyn, who lives downwind of the estate and claims that the
smell of rotting seaweed makes her physically sick.

(b) Donald, a 14-year-old, who lives on a neighbouring farm and says

that the noise from the quad bikes has made his pet guinea pigs
miscarry their young.

(c) Anisha, a neighbour, who says that the ‘Swing High Centre’ has
lowered the tone of the neighbourhood and that her back garden
can be seen from some of the higher tree platforms.

Advise Lord Sandwell regarding his potential tort liability.

4. Peter and Keith, two 18-year-olds, go drinking in London one Saturday

night. Having consumed a great deal of alcohol, they decide to return
home to Oxford in order to continue their revelry.

Being drunk and impatient, they cannot be bothered to wait for a train,
and instead steal a car they discover unlocked, with the ignition keys
inside, in the station car park. They start the drive back to Oxford, with
Keith at the wheel, picking up Ife, Keith’s girlfriend, on the way.

Just before they reach Oxford, Keith takes a bend too fast, with the result
that the car collides with another vehicle driven by Al, who is seriously
injured, as is Peter who was in the front passenger seat. Ife, who was in
the back seat and not wearing her seat belt at the time, suffers head
injuries.

Keith is arrested for drink-driving, and taken into custody. Later that
night, because the police fail to remove Keith’s belt, he commits suicide
by hanging himself in his cell.

Advise the parties.

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5. Cedric has recently bought a country estate, which includes a large
house, a lake and a disused chapel. After paying a high purchase price,
Cedric has no money left to undertake any of the necessary repairs to
the house. In particular, the stairs to the basement are uneven and the
window frames on the first floor are rotten. Nevertheless, Cedric decides
to hold a party for his friends. He warns them not to go down to the
basement and also stipulates that they must take extra care if going up
to the first floor.

Arjun, aged seven, becomes bored with the party and decides to jump
down the stairs to the basement. Unfortunately, he trips on the stairs and
falls down into the basement, breaking his arm.

Davina, who has been drinking excessively, decides to search for the
toilet. On climbing the stairs to the first floor, she leans against a window.
The rotten frame cracks and Davina falls through the window into a bush
below. Miraculously she suffers no injury but her designer gown is
ruined.

Meanwhile Ben and Sharon decide to leave the party and wander off to
the disused chapel. There, Ben decides to swing on the bell rope. In the
dark he does not see the sign saying, ‘Danger: Do Not Touch’, and on
pulling the rope, a large part of the ceiling falls on top of him, causing
serious injury. The quickest way back to the house is across the lake;
therefore to get help, Sharon jumps into the lake where sadly she drowns
in the deep water.

Advise the parties.

6. Anne worked as a volunteer water hose operator for the Trumpton Fire
Brigade. One Saturday night she was called in to the station to attend a
fire at The Plaice, a popular local fish and chip café owned by Michel.
Gordon and Jamal were two chefs who had been working in the kitchen,
when the deep fat fryer, which had been installed by Michel, suddenly
exploded. Gordon immediately ran out to the street to call the emergency
services, but Jamal was trapped inside. Anne finally managed to pull
Jamal from the burning kitchen, but he had suffered severe burns to his
hands and face. Outside, while Jamal was being resuscitated, Gordon
helped by passing medical supplies to the paramedic who was treating
him.

Two months later, Anne was suffering from nightmares and flashbacks
to the fire. Gordon was drinking heavily, and could no longer look after
his children. Jamal was recovering from his burns, but was feeling low
and was unable to either eat chips or cook.

Advise Anne, Gordon and Jamal.

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7. ‘At bottom, I think the question of recovering economic loss is one of
policy. Whenever the courts draw a line to mark out the bounds of duty,
they do it as a matter of policy so as to limit the responsibility of the
defendant.’ (Lord Denning).

Discuss.

8. Brad owns the "Pink Canary" Nightclub, a popular haunt in Brighton. At

weekends, because of the rush of customers, he hires two extra security
guards who are supplied by "Safe T First", an agency which specialises
in this kind of work.

One Saturday night, Gino and Phil, two security guards provided by
"Safe T First", are working at the club when trouble breaks out. Gino
separates the brawling individuals and gets them to leave the premises.
As they walk away one of them, Vernon, turns around and shouts
obscene abuse at the security guards. Phil chases him down the street
and trips, knocking Vernon to the ground and badly injuring him.

At midnight, Brad instructs Gino to drive Tina, Brad's girlfriend, to her flat
telling him, ‘make sure you take her straight home’.

However, on the way, Tina asks Gino to go via a garage five miles away
to buy cigarettes, since she has run out. Because he is in a hurry, Gino
drives excessively fast and loses control of the car. The car collides with
Zelda who is cycling home from work without lights on her bicycle. Zelda
is injured and her bicycle destroyed. Tina, who was not wearing her
seatbelt, suffers a broken hand.

Advise Vernon, Zelda and Tina.

9. ‘The so-called “chilling effect” of the English law of defamation is an

illusion.’

Discuss.

END OF PAPER

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