[para. Incapacity. As pleaded, Papakura had. As indicated there, s16(a) (s14(1) of the UK Act) imposes strict liability on the seller if its conditions are satisfied. Special circumstances of a rushed emergency callout. Papakura distributes its water to more than 38,000 people in its district. In the next section, we show that the probability distribution for xxx is given by the formula: In the present case the Court of Appeal, while having regard to the established pattern of trading between the parties, do not appear to have considered what inferences could be drawn from it. The Ashington Piggeries case did not apply because in this case there was one supply of one product. 6 In the footnotes: The question of negligence is for the COURTS to decide, NOT for the profession in question. Employer had insufficient resources to cover floor with sawdust. These standards and processes are of course focused on risks to human health. We do not make allowances for learner drivers. 40. Negligence could not be established without accepting a higher duty to some consumers. 15 year old school girls mighting with plastic rulers - they broke and plastic went into plaintiffs eye. Held, though the risk of igniting the oil was small, it was a REAL risk, and a reasonable person would NOT disregard it. Advanced A.I. Universal practice of not warning parents that a child's post-mortem may involve removal of organs could NOT be justified on grounds of common practice. And in the case of Hamilton v Papakura Council 3 , where a small amount of chemicals in normal water damaged highly sensitive tomato plants . ), refd to. Watercare's contractors had sprayed gorse with Grazon in part of the catchment area for the lake from which the town water supply was taken. As Lord Sumner pointed out in Manchester Liners Ltd v Rea Ltd [1922] 2 AC 74, 90 the words of section 16(a) are 'so as to show not and shows . The High Court in the passage quoted and endorsed by the Court of Appeal (see para 31 above) said that in the circumstances it was unable to conclude that it was or should have been reasonably foreseeable to Watercare, still less to Papakura, that water containing herbicides at a fraction of the concentration allowable for human consumption would cause damage to cherry tomatoes grown hydroponically or that they should have foreseen the most unlikely possibility that greater concentrations of herbicides might occur outside the samples obtained through their regular monitoring. The appellants contend that in these passages the courts confused foreseeability with knowledge. 36. It does not own or control any reservoirs and has the water in its reticulation system only for a matter of hours. Gravity of risk - special risk to plaintiff should be taken into account if the defendant KNOWS about it. In the end, this case is a narrow one to be determined on its own facts. However, the Court continued, that proposition did not avoid, indeed it emphasised the importance of, the statutory requirement that the particular purpose be made known by the buyer to the seller. The claim was that the herbicide had contaminated the water in the lake and that that contamination in turn had damaged their tomatoes. You also get a useful overview of how the case was received. Hamilton and M.P. Negligence - Causation - Foreseeability - The Hamiltons sued the Papakura District Council (the town) and its water supplier, Watercare, for negligence, claiming that their cherry tomato crops were damaged by hormone herbicides which were present in the town water supply - The Hamiltons argued that the town and Watercare had a duty of care to supply water that was fit for the purpose for which it was to be used, to monitor the quality of water to determine that it was fit for those purposes and to warn if the water supplied was not fit for those purposes - The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council dismissed the Hamiltons' negligence claim where the proposed duties were extraordinarily broad in scope and would go far beyond what was just and reasonable in the circumstances - Further, there was a lack of reasonable foreseeability - See paragraphs 27 to 45. 67. CA held that the defendant was physically incapable of taking care and was NOT responsible. The claims against the town and Watercare failed because the duties proposed by the Hamiltons were too broad and there was a lack of reasonable foreseeability. If the duty is put in terms of all uses, even all uses known to Papakura, the duty would be extraordinarily broad. In the words of the Supreme Court of Canada in Munshaw Colour Service Ltd v City of Vancouver (1962) 33 DLR (2d) 719,727, supported by the evidence of the general manager of Manukau Water (a neighbouring district). [9] It was held that the use of the water supply was so specific. The water authority had put in the water supply herbicides which damaged the crops they sought to grow, and which were watered from the supply. Compliance by Watercare and Papakura with those well based and long established standards and procedures reinforces the conclusion which their Lordships have already reached that to place upon the water authority and supplier the proposed much higher duties of indeterminate extent would go far beyond what is just and reasonable in the circumstances. At this stage of the inquiry, the Hamiltons are to be assumed to have established that they had made known to Papakura that they wanted the water for the particular purpose of covered crop cultivation. 3 H.L. 57. Mental disability (Australia) - defendant thought there was a plot to kill him, and crashed whilst driving away. Hamilton (appellants) v. Papakura District Council and Watercare Services Ltd. (respondents) ( [2002] UKPC 9) Indexed As: Hamilton v. Papakura District Council et al. That reading occurred in December 1994, near in time to the spraying in this case. The simple fact is that it did not undertake that liability. See Bruce Construction Corp. v. United States, 324 F.2d 516, 518 (Ct. Cl. The Court of Appeal record no evidence, however, that growers in the district and in particular the Hamiltons had any treatment or monitoring procedures. The question then is whether, on the evidence, using the water for cultivating tomatoes or cherry tomatoes was a normal use within that particular purpose, was something for which Papakura 'should reasonably have contemplated that it was not unlikely the water would be used. Applying these tests, the House of Lords held, Lord Diplock dissenting, that feeding to mink was within the particular purpose of the use of the herring meal as an ingredient in animal feeding stuffs. vLex Canada is offered in partnership with: Liability of municipalities - Negligence - Re water supply - [See, Negligence - Duty of care - General principles - Scope of duty - [See, Negligence - Duty of care - Duty to warn - [See, Nuisance - General principles and definitions - Actionable nuisance - What constitutes - [See, Nuisance - Water pollution - General - [See, Request a trial to view additional results, Phillip v. Whitecourt General Hospital et al., (2004) 359 A.R. In their opinion the majority have referred to the New Zealand Milk Corporation's plant with its laboratory for testing the town water supply and its large filtration plant. Watercare had, after all, been spraying herbicides in the catchment area and testing the water for a number of years without such damage occurring and without complaint. In the event that is of no consequence for the resolution of the appeal.). Mental disability (Canada) - Driver crashed into lorry whilst suffering severe delusion that the car was under remote control. Test. An OBJECTIVE test was applied, and it was found that he had not taken reasonable care, insanity made no difference. The Hamiltons did not have the necessary knowledge about the purity of Papakura's water supply or about the various factors which might affect it. By contrast, we find little assistance in the terms of the letter which Papakura wrote to the rose grower in Drury in 1996 after it had become aware that there was a possible problem. 41. Great Britain. Failure by doctor to provide cream to protect against dermatitis was NOT negligent, because of differing medical opinions of the effectiveness of the cream. Hamilton v Papakura District Council. 30. Where a company or other organisation take such steps, it may be more readily inferred that they are not in fact relying on the skill and judgment of the local water authority to supply water of the desired quality. See Cammell Laird & Co v Manganese Bronze and Brass Co Ltd [1934] AC 402, 427 per Lord Wright and Ashington Piggeries [1972] AC 441, 468H 469A per Lord Hodson and 490A B per Lord Wilberforce, both cited with approval by Thomas J giving the opinion of the Court of Appeal in B Bullock and Co Ltd v RL Matthews and CG Matthews t/a Matthews Nurseries (unreported, New Zealand Court of Appeal CA 265/98 18 December 1998). The legislation in terms of which the respondents supply the water is part of the context in which all of the Hamiltons claims, and in particular those in negligence, are to be seen. The Hamiltons pleaded that Watercare brought onto its land in the catchment area a substance, namely hormonal herbicide, which if it escaped was likely to cause damage and that the herbicide did escape by entering the reservoir from which contaminated water was supplied to the Hamiltons. [para. Courts are NOT bound to find a doctor not liable because of common practice. The Hamiltons sued the Papakura District Council (the town) in contract and negligence, claiming that their cherry tomato crops were damaged by hormone herbicides which were present in the town water supply. 66. 63]. 39]. Breach of duty. According to the statement of claim, Watercare had duties: 29. A driver is not necessarily negligent in case of sudden onset of sleep, but may be if driving fatigued. Subscribers are able to see any amendments made to the case. The plants were particularly sensitive to such chemicals. Indeed, as Watercare points out, tests done by a Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, suggested that very low levels of herbicides can promote plant growth. Attorney General ex rel. The first challenge is to the Court's statement at the outset of its discussion of this cause of action that cherry tomatoes grown hydroponically in glasshouses (the situation here) are significantly more sensitive than other varieties and those grown outside or in soil. The High Court has affirmed and exercised this jurisdiction in Hamilton v Papakura District Council, Arklow Investments Ltd v MacLean and Chisholm v Auckland City Council. See [2000] 1 NZLR 265, 278, para 53. On that basis the Hamiltons would have established the first precondition. a. Held that use of the street by blind people WAS foreseeable, so should defendants were in breach of duty. Nuisance - General principles and definitions - Actionable nuisance - What constitutes - [See 55. For the reasons which we have given we consider that the Court of Appeal erred in law in making their assessment of the evidence and hence in the conclusions which they drew from it in respect of the requirements of section 16(a). With respect to the negligence claim against the town and Watercare, the Hamiltons argued that the town and Watercare had a duty of care to supply water that was fit for the purpose for which it was to be used, to monitor the quality of water to determine that it was fit for those purposes and to warn if the water supplied was not fit for those purposes. Autex Industries Ltd. v. Auckland City Council, [2000] N.Z.A.R. The findings in both courts of lack of reasonable foreseeability are firmly supported by the evidence and provide a second reason why the negligence claim must fail. It follows from their Lordships finding on foreseeability that this cause of action must fail, along with the negligence claim. [paras. What is a sensory register? New Zealand. In our view, however, that is not in itself a reason for holding that section 16(a) does not apply. Standard of care in medical profession - Doctor was not negligent if he followed a common practice accepted as proper by a reasonable body of medical men (since overturned in Bolitho). The Hamiltons also sued the company that supplied the water to the town (Watercare), claiming negligence and nuisance. The coal supplied was unsuitable for the steamer and she had to return to port, with the result that the plaintiffs suffered loss. 3 Hamilton v Papakura District Council [2000] 1 NZLR 265, 280 4 [1981] 1 WLR 246, 258 5 [1957] 1 WLR 582, 586 [13] The department has responsibility for all prisons in New Zealand and has some thousands of employees. Created by. 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