Summer 2016 Scots Law in Practice

Welcome to the Summer edition of Scots Law In Practice. The first three cases contain a common thread - the pursuer in each had a valid claim on the face of things, but in each one, faced legal difficulties in obtaining a remedy. In a case from the English Court of Appeal we look at a situation where the injured parties were engaged in a minor criminal act when they were injured - did that bar them from a successful action?

In Campbell v Gordon the Supreme Court considered whether an employee injured at work has a remedy if his employer goes into liquidation without insurance, while in DK v The Marist Brothers, the distinction between prescription and limitation was considered.

Finally, we have two cases in which successful defences were argued. Murray v McCullough is a welcome decision which reminds pursuers that they have a responsibility for their own personal safety when taking part in sport, while Shackleton v M-I Drilling Fluids demonstrates that even where duties are said to be absolute, a defence can still be possible.

Crime Doesn't Pay - Criminal Enterprise and Negligence

How should the law treat a claim in which the claimants are part of criminal enterprise, but in which the negligence of the defendant also played a part?

Beaumont & O'Neill v David Ferrer [2016] EWCA Civ 768

The Issue

It's often said that crime doesn't pay, but the question the English Court of Appeal had to consider here was whether the maxim ex turpi causa non oritur actio (that a claimant cannot seek a legal remedy if it arises from his own criminal act) applied in what was a relatively minor crime of failing to pay a taxi driver.

The facts

On 27 July 2009, Josephn Beaumont and Lewis O'Neill, both 17, decided to go into Manchester City centre with four other friends. It had already been decided by the group as a whole that they would "jump the taxi" into Manchester; in other words, once at their destination, they'd run off from the taxi without paying.

The taxi driver, David Ferrer, picked them up in his Nissan minivan. This had three rows of seats, though to access the back row, the middle seats had to be tipped forward. Beaumont and O'Neill sat in the back row, while three of their friends sat in the middle row, and one in the front passenger seat.

As he approached their destination, he stopped at traffic lights and advised them it was £10. Immediately, the three in the middle row, who had access to the offside sliding door, jumped out and ran. As they did...