Mark Bowman suggests when to see beyond an Act of God
The 18 January 2007 was one of the windiest days in Britain for years. Planes, trains and ferry services were cancelled, motorways closed and hundreds of trees fell as winds of in excess of 90 miles per hour were reported.
Mr M, a lecturer at Southgate College in London, had completed his classes for the morning and was walking along the main driveway of part of the college campus when a sudden gust of wind blew over a mature copper beech tree, adjacent to a car park (where hundreds of students/lecturers would pass each day). The tree landed on Mr M and he suffered severe spinal and psychiatric injuries as a result. He was subsequently medically retired on the grounds of ill health.
Act of God?
At first glance it appeared as though this was a typical “Act of God” scenario—where the defendant in this case, presumably Southgate College, would reasonably point to the high winds, the number of trees falling throughout Britain, and argue that circumstances outside their control had caused Mr M’s
