Prepare an oral presentation explaining the issues below:

1. Whether Josh may have a claim in negligence against Matthew for his personal injury.
2. Whether Henna can claim against Matthew under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 for her personal injury.
3. Whether Matthew owes Mr Khan a duty in negligence for his depression.
4. Whether Mr Khan can claim against Matthew in private nuisance for noise.
After your presentation is complete you can be asked questions on anything arising from the scenario, including defences.  This may also include other potential claims arising from the scenario.

Scenario

Emily and Matthew live in a small town in a house which they own.  In November last year Emily and Matthew held a 9^th birthday party for their twin boys.  They decided to build a bonfire at the end of their garden and planned to have food and outdoor games. They invited 20 other children to the party, all of whom are in the twins' class at school.  

Extract from a witness statement by Matthew

The party started very happily.  All the children were very excited and enjoyed having the freedom to play outside on a November afternoon.  The only problem was that I couldn't light the bonfire.  The wood must have been damp as it just would not catch fire.  We decided to leave it for a while and go inside to eat.  We couldn't eat outside as we didn't have the bonfire to keep us warm.

It was chaos in the house.  The children were racing around.  It felt as if there were hundreds of them, rather than 20 plus the twins.  That was why I didn't notice that 3 of the boys (Josh, Lucas and Bilal) had stayed outside.

From what the boys have told me, it appears that Josh decided to try to light the fire himself.  Unfortunately, he found the matches and can of petrol I had hidden behind a tree.  I'd bought the petrol as a last resort in case I couldn't light the fire.  Josh poured the can of petrol on the fire, set fire to a small stick, and threw it onto the fire.  The bonfire was immediately engulfed in flames and Josh's clothes were set alight.

On hearing screaming I rushed out the house and saw Lucas throw his coat over Josh and roll him over in an attempt to smother the flames.  The children had recently learnt basic first aid in school.

Josh suffered severe burns.  Lucas also suffered burns caused by him helping Josh.  His burns were much less severe.  Bilal had instinctively jumped out of the way of the flames and was not physically injured.  He was however very shocked by the incident.

None of this would have happened if Josh hadn't thrown the petrol on the fire.

Whilst I was outside helping the boys, another of the child guests, Henna, fell down the stairs and broke her leg.  She tripped on a loose floorboard near the top of the stairs. We had recently had a new floor laid by a local firm of carpenters.  I had noticed that particular floorboard was loose, but I had not as yet done anything about it.

 

 

 

 

Extract from a witness statement by Lucas' mother, Nadyne.

I was telephoned by Emily who told me that Lucas was injured.  I was there within 5 minutes.  Lucas suffered what looked like minor burns to his hands due to him helping Josh.  Lucas was obviously upset by the incident, so because his burns did not look serious, I decided to take him straight home rather than wait for the ambulance.  At home I attempted to treat the burns and bandaged his hands.  However, the burns were more serious than I realised and became infected.  

I took Lucas to the local walk-in medical centre, and they sent him to hospital immediately.  The infected burns had caused sepsis (blood poisoning).  Lucas was quite ill, but due to quick treatment by the hospital he has now recovered fully with no lasting problems.

 

Extract from a witness statement by Bilal's mother, Seren.

Bilal was not physically hurt by the fire, but he was very shocked.  He could have been killed and he realises that.  He suffers nightmares and flashbacks and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 

Extract from a witness statement by Mr Khan.

I live next door to Emily and Matthew.  I am the owner and occupier of my house.  On the twins' birthday I could see they were having a party.  There was a lot of noise with the children playing outside.  Then it all went quiet.  I looked out of my upstairs bedroom window and saw that all but 3 of the boys had gone inside.  I then saw one of the boys throw something on the bonfire which immediately burst into flames.  His clothes caught fire and he started screaming.  One of the other boys smothered him with something and put the flames out.  The third boy who was nearby did not seem to be hurt.  I was profoundly shocked by what I saw and have since been diagnosed with depression.

I understand that this was a birthday party, but they are noisy neighbours.  The twins play in their garden most days and are very loud.  I live alone and I like peace and quiet.  

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Given that Matthew had concealed matches and gasoline in the garden the question of whether Josh may have a negligence claim against him for his personal injury arises Josh discovered these items an... View the full answer