A legal claim for damages in a civil tree claim is often a claim brought in negligence.
In order to succeed in a claim in negligence there are a number of steps that the Claimant has to prove. It’s not just that the Defendant caused the harm.
Those steps are:
1. Duty of care – the Claimant must show that the Defendant owed them a duty of care. This is assessed using the 3 stage test set out in the Caparo v Dickman case:
❔was the harm reasonably foreseeable
❔was there a sufficient relationship of proximity between the parties
❔is it fair, just and reasonable to impose the duty of care
2. Breach of duty – the Defendant must have breached their duty by failing to meet the required standard of care, judged by the objective standard of the reasonable person.
3. Causation – the Claimant must prove that the breach caused the harm. This is both factual causation and legal causation (i.e., the harm if not too remote and must have been reasonably foreseeable).
4. Damage – The Claimant must have suffered actual damage such as a physical injury, property damage or financial loss. A pure economic loss is generally not recoverable.
The Claimant needs to succeed on all of these point in order to have a successful claim in negligence. A lot of clients think that showing that a tree caused damage means the tree owner is liable. As you can see from the test above, it’s not that simple.
Check out our episodes on negligence on Tree Law TV – Negligence ; Negligence, Part 2 – Causation and foreseeability
