First Principles of Business Law

5. Breach of a duty of care

5.1.5. The relevance of a defendant's particular knowledge

Read the following facts and then consider the arguments.

C is driving her car along a road that she has used many times before. She knows that, near the top of a particular hill, there is an intersection with an unpaved farm road. The intersection cannot be seen until you get very close to it. C does not slow down as she approaches the hilltop and is therefore unable to stop in time to avoid colliding with another vehicle which she suddenly finds crossing the main road at the intersection.

Issue: In the light of C's particular knowledge, was harm a reasonably foreseeable consequence of failing to slow down? 

Click on the links below to read the arguments that might be made on this issue by each side.