Duty of Care

We all owe a duty of care to others. A duty of care is the legal or moral responsibility to take all reasonable steps to not cause foreseeable harm to another person or their property. 

What is duty of care and why is it important?

Owing someone a duty of care is what’s called a ‘common law’ concept. It’s relevant in situations where it’s reasonably foreseeable that a person or their property could be harmed by a person’s conduct. If you’re the person who owes a duty of care to someone else, the risk of harm is ‘reasonably foreseeable’ if:  

• A reasonable person in your position ought to have known of the risk of injury or harm to another person, without the benefit of hindsight 

Breach of duty of care 

A breach in the duty of care means one party has done something, or failed to do something, which may result in injury to another and cause them to suffer a loss. If the injury of harm was reasonably foreseeable, the injured party may have a compensation claim for negligence. 

When is there a breach of duty of care? 

A breach of duty of care occurs when: 

• There was a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury 

• You have been injured because of someone else’s behaviour (either their action or lack of action) 

• A reasonable person in the same situation would have acted differently, to prevent or reduce the reasonably foreseeable risk of injury.  

What are duty of care examples 

If you’ve been injured, there may not be someone at fault. There are however many different recognised relationships between individuals and groups that give rise to a duty of care. These include a duty of care owed by: 

• Employer to employee (such as an injury at work or in connection with your employment) 

• Landlord to tenant (relevant to injuries in rental premises) 

• Doctor to patient (relevant to injuries sustained because of medical treatment or care) 

• Local authority or government entity to those entering their premises (such as injuries caused by slips, trips and falls in public places) 

• Business owner to those entering their premises (such as a slip, trip or fall in a supermarket) 

• Theme park or leisure centre owner to those entering their premises (such as injuries sustained while at a theme park) 

• Road user to road user (relevant to motor vehicle accidents, including injuries sustained by pedestrians) 

• Animal owner to others (relevant to injuries caused by a dog bite or attack) 

• Educational institution or daycare provider to your child (relevant to injuries sustained at school or daycare). 

Responsibility or duty or care - making a claim for compensation 

If you’ve been injured because of a breach of duty of care, you may have a claim for compensation for your injuries and the impact they have had on your life. For your breach of duty of care claim to be successful, our expert legal team must be able to prove three things: 

1. A person, entity or company owed you a duty of care 

2. The person, entity or company breached their duty of care 

3. Because of their breach of duty of care, you were hurt and suffered a loss. 

Contact Shine Lawyers

If you think you’ve been injured or suffered loss because of a breach of a duty of care owed to you,  you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. Strict legal  time limits may apply to your case.  

The law of negligence (relevant to a breach of duty of care) is extremely broad and covers many situations. One of our expert lawyers can advise if you have a claim and be with you every step of the way. We’ll help you to get the compensation you need to be able to get your life back on track. Let’s right wrong together.