Balfour v William Beardmore and Co, 1956 SLT 205
Citation: Balfour v William Beardmore and Co, 1956 SLT 205
Rule of thumb: Where a person has sustained a hand injury (often vibration white finger) caused by more than one employer/organisation, who is liable? They are all liable for the % they contributed to the injury which has to be calculated clearly & properly from time spent without protection in each place.
Judgment:
The facts of this case were that the pursuer had hand injuries sustained from using equipment. It was shown that these injuries would get progressively worse and that everyone was liable for their own contribution. It was held that the defender was only liable for their contribution to the pursuer’s injuries as per the time the pursuer spent with them, ‘The defenders are liable only for the consequences of their actions, and in the particular circumstances that means, in my opinion, that they are liable only for the results of the aggravation which their own negligence has caused. Upon the medical evidence it possible to determine the extent of that aggravation. In these circumstances the correct method of proceeding is, in my view, to assess the full amount of the damage caused by the pursuer’s disease, to find the defenders liable for such proportion thereof as corresponds to the proportion of aggravation which their negligence has caused. I do not think that any other view would do justice’, Lord Strachan at 216
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