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09 June 2011
Issue: 7469 / Categories: Case law , Law digest
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Tort

Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Conarken Group Ltd; Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Farrell Transport Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 644, [2011] All ER (D) 288 (May)

It was settled law that forseeability and remoteness were to be considered together. Forseeability, as an abstract concept, was not determinative. An imaginative person might foresee extremely broad consequences as potentially resulting from his actions. In considering whether consequences were too remote to create a liability in negligence, reasonableness had a part to play.

Further, the fact that a claimant had contractually agreed with a third party the level of damages that it would pay, would not necessarily bind the tortfeasor. It was not open to a party to dictate to the whole world the extend to tortious liability and what was reasonably foreseeable and not too remote in order to achieve what it regarded as a satisfactory contract with a third party. It might lead to ever more ingenious attempts to attribute possible loses to a tort and would be inimical to the simple solution desired.
 

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

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Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
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Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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