First Principles of Business Law

5. Breach of a duty of care

5.1.3. The test by which the foreseeability of harm is determined?

We now know that an obligation to prevent harm arises only if it was foreseeable that careless conduct of the kind engaged in by the defendant could cause harm of some kind to the plaintiff. But how is the foreseeability of that harm determined? What test is applied? Consider the alternatives below and choose the best answer. 

(a) The harm must have been foreseeable to the particular defendant.

(b) The harm must have been foreseeable to 'a reasonable person' in the defendant's position.

(c) The harm must have been foreseeable in the opinion of the court.