Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council [2000] 3 All ER 409
Tort; Negligence; causation of harm; liability for harm occurring in an unexpected way.
Facts: An old boat was abandoned in the grounds of some flats owned by the Sutton London Borough Council. The council placed a sticker on it, saying 'Danger do not touch this vehicle unless you are the owner'. No one claimed the boat and the council did not remove it. Two young teenage boys decided to repair the boat and, to do so, used a car jack to lift its front end. While one boy was working under the boat, it slipped off the jack and injured the boy very seriously.
Issue: Was harm to the boy foreseeable in these circumstances?
Decision: The kind of harm was foreseeable, even though the precise way it occurred was unexpected.
Reason: It was certainly foreseeable that children might play on the old boat and suffer injury because of its poor condition, such as by falling through rotten planking, but this is not what had happened. The harm to the boy had occurred while he was trying to repair the boat and the jack slipped. Even so, the court said the harm was foreseeable. Lord Hoffman found that the bad condition of the boat proclaimed it was abandoned property and there for the taking. In such circumstances, the risk of children meddling with it and so risking physical injury was a foreseeable risk of harm of the kind that occurred, even if the precise manner in which the injury was caused was unexpected.