The judgment in MBS provides practitioners with a new road map for navigating negligence claims, as Andrew Burnette & Ben Hubble QC report
- The seminal SAAMCO principle—a key aspect of the notion that a defendant is liable only for losses which fall within the scope of the duty of care owed to the claimant—has been re-stated and re-purposed by the Supreme Court.
In his concurring judgment in Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20, [2021] All ER (D) 45 (Jun) (MBS), Lord Leggatt refers to the scope of duty principle articulated in South Australia Asset Management Corpn v York Montague Ltd [1997] AC 191, [1996] 3 All ER 365 (SAAMCO) as having ‘proved difficult to formulate as well as difficult to apply’ para [41]. Few practitioners would disagree. Twenty-five years later, following the judgments of the Supreme Court in MBS and the linked appeal of Khan v Meadows [2021] UKSC 21, [2021] All ER (D) 44 (Jun) we ask—is it the end of the road for SAAMCO?
