11 August 2011 | Rebecca Singleton

How a dead snail in a beer bottle changed tort law.

Mrs Donoghue’s friend purchased an opaque bottle of ginger beer, some of which was poured over ice cream, while some was drunk by Mrs Donoghue. Her friend poured the remaining ginger beer on to the ice cream and a decomposed snail fell out of the bottle. Mrs Donoghue suffered from stomach problems and shock as a result of drinking the beer so she brought a claim for damages against the manufacturer.

As there was no contract between the manufacturer and Mrs Donoghue because her friend purchased the drink, the courts had to establish whether previous case law allowed Mrs Donoghue to claim in absence of a contract. The Court held that any person could be liable for harm to another given certain conditions. 

Lord Atkins’ speech was the most influential as it established the ‘neighbour’ principle where “you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour”.

He defined your neighbour as “persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question”.

If you cannot establish the neighbour principle, there will be no claim. This protects defendants from liability when they cannot reasonably be expected to contemplate the acts or omissions occurring.

This case allows a claim to succeed even where there is no contractual relationship between the parties. The law remains relevant to suppliers as it is not only people they contract with that can claim against them. If any person can establish the neighbour principle (duty of care), that the duty was breached, that the defendant caused the breach and the claimant suffered harm then they are likely to be entitled to damages.

If there is a contract in place, that will be the easier way to claim, or use the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. Also, liability for death or personal injury may not be excluded by English law due to the the Consumer Protection Act 1986, Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and, for consumer contracts, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts 1999.

☛ Rebecca Singleton is a trainee solicitor at Singletons