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If Mr Watson has no remedy against the Board, he has no remedy at all. A . the concern of the Board for the physical safety of boxers is reflected in many of the Board's rules and regulations. It can also result in disturbance of the processes of breathing so that insufficient air is taken into the lungs to ensure adequate oxidation of the blood. No medical assistance was provided. In an article on injuries in professional boxing written in 1981, Dr Whiteson stated: "My task as Senior Medical Officer is to control the medical aspects of boxing and in this to liaise closely with Area Medical Officers and with the team of medical experts which includes neurologists and orthopaedic, plastic and ophthalmic surgeons". I think that the Judge was right. Mr Watson suffered such an injury when he was knocked down in the eleventh round. It seems to me that, but for the intervention of the Board, the promoter would probably owe a common law duty to the boxer to make reasonable provision for the immediate treatment of his injuries. Later that day, there was a rise in intra-cranial pressure and a second operation was performed, on this occasion by Mr Hamlyn, to remove a new collection of blood and staunch a bleeding vein and artery. . expressed a similar view in Marc Rich & Co. v Bishop Rock Ltd [1994] 1 WLR 1071 at 1077: "Whatever the nature of the harm sustained by the plaintiff, it is necessary to consider the matter not only by inquiring about foreseeability but also by considering the nature of the relationship between the parties; and to be satisfied that in all the circumstances it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care. 78. Lord Mustill reached the same conclusion in R v Brown [1994] 1 AC 212 at p.265, where he gave the following description of professional boxing: "For money, not recreation or personal improvement, each boxer tries to hurt the opponent more than he is hurt himself, and aims to end the contest prematurely by inflicting a brain injury serious enough to make the opponent unconscious, or temporarily by impairing his central nervous system through a blow to the midriff, or cutting his skin to a degree which would ordinarily be well within the scope of Section 20. Thus, it has members who pay membership fees or subscriptions in return for which it provides them with facilities. They support the proposition that the act of undertaking to cater for the medical needs of a victim of illness or injury will generally carry with it the duty to exercise reasonable care in addressing those needs. Rule 23 of the Board's rules and regulations provided: "23.1 Commonwealth, European and World Championships when promoted in Great Britain and Northern Ireland must be organised and controlled in accordance with the Regulations of the BBB of C except where such Regulations may be at variance with those of any Commonwealth, European or World Boxing Authorities with whom the BBC of C may for the time being be affiliated, when the Regulations of such Authorities shall apply. In any event I believe that this point vanishes when causation is considered. [6] This was an extension to the previous duty of care under negligence, and also serves as an exception to the rule under trespass to the person that a defendant will not be liable for personal harm caused in sporting matches which the claimant consents to. It is not possible to measure even on the balance of probabilities where the damage would have stopped if the protocol had been followed. The propeller was mismatched to the gearbox. As already stated, no tournament is allowed to commence or continue without one doctor sitting ringside. The Judge did not find that the lapse of time between Mr Watson becoming unconscious and Dr Shapiro being called to assist was critical. [1988] 1 AC 1074 at 1090; and Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority [1987] 1 AC 750 at 783. 14. Center circle: In the center circle, jot down the name of your stated goalin this case, Create an Audio Educational Program. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control (2001 . This sequence can result in cumulative damage to the brain, leading sooner or later to death. Boxing is the only sport where this is the object of the exercise. The company, as the Popular Flying Association, appoint inspectors for the purpose of, among other things, inspecting aircraft during the course of their construction by members of the association and certifying whether the relevant work has been done to his "entire satisfaction" and the aircraft is in an airworthy condition. The board, however, went far beyond this. 59. [4] After recovering consciousness, he sued the BBBC, arguing that because they laid down the rules governing professional boxing that ensured his safety, they owed him a duty of care and should have ensured that he was properly and immediately treated. In his Witness Statement Mr John Morris, General Secretary of the Board said "The Board believes as I do, that the safety of the boxers is of great importance and takes precedence over commercial and other interests". He could have been treated on the spot, and had an endotrachael tube inserted, been ventilated and thereafter transferred directly to a Neurosurgical Unit where CT scan facilities were available. Michael Watson was a boxer who, on 21 September 1991, fought Chris Eubank under the supervision of the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), the British professional boxing governing body. Despite this statement, Ian Kennedy J. suggested that where there was a potential for physical injury there was no need to go beyond the test of foreseeability in deciding whether a duty of care existed, relying on Perrett v. Collins [1998] 255. Lord Nicholls posed and answered the following question at p.802: "Take a case where an educational psychologist is employed by an education authority. The Board's Medical Committee had issued detailed advice to Medical Officers in relation to their duty at the ringside which was in force at the time of the Watson/Eubank fight. in that case. 74. Match. 3. For example, the relationship between the parties may be such that it is obvious that a lack of care will create a risk of harm and that as a matter of common sense and justice a duty should be imposed.. Again in most cases of the direct infliction of physical loss or injury through carelessness, it is self-evident that a civilised system of law should hold that a duty of care has been broken, whereas the infliction of financial harm may well pose a more difficult problem. In view of this, they said that there should have been available at the ringside resuscitation equipment and doctors who knew how to use this. On his initiative a meeting took place with the Minister for Sport, two of Mr Hamlyn's colleagues, the Board's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Whiteson, and other board officials on 16th October 1991. There are features of this case which are extraordinary, if not unique. Since 1929 the Board has been and continues to be the sole controlling body regulating professional boxing in the United Kingdom. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. 63. England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division), Watson & British Boxing Board Of Control Ltd & Anor. The material passages of this advice were as follows:-. The evidence certainly supports the proposition that it was Mr Watson's injuries, and the subsequent advice given by Mr Hamlyn, that caused the Board to change its practice. He held that anyone with the appropriate expertise would have advised the adoption of such a system. At the North Middlesex Hospital he was intubated, that is an endotrachael tube was inserted, and he was given oxygen. Thus in Capital and Counties v. Hampshire this Court held that a fire brigade was under no common law duty to answer a call for help or, having done so, to exercise reasonable skill and care to extinguish the fire. In Smoldon v Whitworth [1997] PIQR P133 the duty of care had been conceded in the context of a school colts game and similarly, boxing came under scrutiny in Watson v British Boxing. 69. The Notice of Appeal contended that there was no evidence that, had the rules contended for by Mr Watson been in place, he would have been treated any differently; the Judge should have found that none of the doctors present, nor the ambulance man, would have intubated the claimant, whatever equipment had been available, because he was breathing spontaneously. Lord Phillips MR Gazette 22-Mar-2001, Times 02-Feb-2001, [2000] EWCA Civ 2116, [2001] QB 1134, [2001] PIQR 16 Bailii, Bailii England and Wales Citing: Considered Perrett v Collins, Underwood PFA (Ulair) Limited (T/a Popular Flying Association) CA 22-May-1998 The plaintiff was a passenger in an aircraft which crashed, and there was a preliminary issue as to the liability to him of those who certified that the aircraft was fit to fly. In Cassidy v Ministry of Health [1951] 2 K.B. The Judge was impressed with the fact that, even then, resuscitation would have been commenced at least twenty and probably thirty minutes before in fact it was. In such a case the authority running the hospital is under a duty to those whom it admits to exercise reasonable care in the way it runs it: see Gold v Essex County Council [1942] 2 K.B. The Board encouraged and supported its boxing members in the pursuit of an activity which involved inevitable physical injury and the need for medical precautions against the consequences of such injury. 108. In Barrett v. Ministry of Defence [1995] 1 WLR a naval rating drank himself into a state of insensibility at the Royal Navy Air Station where he was serving. The Articles of Association of the Board provide that its objects include: "To promote and safeguard the interests of members of the company in the United Kingdom and throughout the world including members' (being boxers) interests in boxing contests and tournaments.including..the encouragement. A doctor must be available to give immediate attention to any boxer should this be required. In the leading speech Lord Slynn advanced the following statement of principle at pp.790-1: "As to the first question, it is long and well-established, now elementary, that persons exercising a particular skill or profession may owe a duty of care in the performance to people who it can be foreseen will be injured if due skill and care are not exercised, and if injury or damage can be shown to have been caused by the lack of care. He further alleged that had he received that treatment, he would not have sustained permanent brain damage. In the subsequent action for personal injuries, this Court held that the ambulance service had been in breach of a duty of care in failing to arrive promptly. There was no contract between the parties, but boxers had to fight under the Board's rules. held that, on the facts, a duty of care had existed. Later, after referring to Lord Bridge's speech in Caparo at p.261, he said: "Thus when a case fits into a category where the existence of a duty of care and a potential liability in the tort of negligence has already been recognised, the more elusive criteria to which Lord Bridge referred for dealing with cases that go beyond the recognised category of proximity do not arise.". "The postulate of a simple duty to avoid any harm that is, with hindsight, reasonably capable of being foreseen becomes untenable without the imposition of some intelligible limits to keep the law of negligence within the bounds of common sense and practicality. .Cited Portsmouth Youth Activities Committee (A Charity) v Poppleton CA 12-Jun-2008 The claimant was injured climbing without ropes (bouldering) at defendants activity centre. In the final round, Watson lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, arriving there nearly half an hour after the end of the fight and received resuscitation treatment. 52. The Board, however, went far beyond this. In 1989 it was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. Herbert Smith, London. This care was insufficient, and as such Watson was in a coma for 40 days, and spent 6 years in a wheelchair. True it is that, in the absence of a statutory power or duty, the authority could not offer such a service. More significantly, he would not be in a position to know whether the provisions that the Board required to be put in place represented all that it was reasonable to provide for his safety. The Claimant would have been resuscitated within a few minutes of 23.00 and in St. Bartholomews by 23.45 at the latest. Therefore, it is said, it is nothing to the point that the social workers and psychiatrist only came into contact with the plaintiffs pursuant to contracts or arrangements made between the professionals and the local authority for the purpose of the discharge by the local authority of its statutory duties. A little later he said "As Chief Medical Officer, my approach has always been that preventative controls are the key to making a physically hazardous sport as safe as possibleour interest in preventative controls covers the whole gamut of professional boxing.". ", "But where an educational psychologist is specifically called in to advise in relation to the assessment and future provision for a specific child, and it is clear that the parents acting for the child and the teachers will follow that advice, prima facie a duty of care arises. The Judge's reference to Mr Hamlyn was to a Neurosurgeon who operated on Mr Watson at St Bartholomew's Hospital and who gave evidence on his behalf at the trial. It is worth setting out the passage of the report of the Board's expert, Dr Cartlidge, which dealt with this aspect of the case. He should certainly carry an aphygomamometer and stethoscope, an ophthalmoscope, an auroscope, a patella hammer, a Brooks airway and a padded spatula in case of a rate occurrence of fitting and the need to establish an airway. 9. If PFA was not liable in negligence, the Plaintiff might be left without a remedy against anyone. 44. The settlement of Watson's case against the. a) A requirement that a boxer must be medically examined before being granted a licence, together with a list of medical conditions that preclude the grant of a licence. b) The rule that a Licence may be suspended or withdrawn if, in the opinion of the Board or an Area Council, the licence-holder is not medically fit to box (Rule 4.9(b)(I)). It is to make regulations imposing on others the duty to achieve these results. He added : "If the plaintiff has been negligently injured by a failing by the PFA, I cannot see that it would be right to withhold relief from him simply on the ground that to grant that relief might cause a rise in the PFA's insurance premiums, or even cause a more expensive system of inspection to be substituted for that of the PFA.". Next Mr Walker argued that the Board did not create the danger of injury or the need for medical assistance. First he submitted that the Board exercises a public function which it has assumed for the public good. The numbers of those to whom the duty is alleged to be owed in the present case are not incompatible with the requirements of proximity. In these circumstances the claim against Mr Usherwood was a conventional claim for carelessness causing direct and foreseeable personal injury. This appears to be an attempt to import into the law of negligence concepts of public law. For these reasons I would dismiss this appeal. 46. ii) the duty alleged is not directly, through the servants or agents of the Board to provide proper facilities and administer proper treatment to those injured. The child's parents will seldom be in a position to know whether the psychologist's advice was sound or not. He said that a report had identified the risks. That, however, did not prove to be the position. Dr Whiteson did not give evidence. The Board, however, arrogates to itself the task of determining what medical facilities will be provided at a contest by (i) requiring the boxer and the promoter to contract on terms under which the Board's Rules will apply and (ii) making provision in those Rules for the medical facilities and assistance to be provided to care for the boxer in the event of injury. 32. Of course.these three matters overlap with each other and are really facets of the same thing. That case involved four further claims by children against local education authorities for, among other things, negligently failing to address their special educational needs. 37. He sued the owner, Mr Usherwood and the Popular Flying Association ("the PFA"). One group of cases involved statutory duties imposed on local authorities for the purpose of protecting children from child abuse. 4. The architect, by reason of his contractual arrangement with the building owner, was charged with the duty of preparing the necessary plans and making arrangements for the manner in which the work should be done. The witness best placed to deal with the consideration, if any, given to this matter would have been Mr Whiteson. The North Middlesex Hospital had no neurosurgical department, so Mr Watson was transferred by ambulance, still unconscious, to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 80. He suffered severe brain damage after being injuredduring a match. The distinction between negligent misstatement and other forms of conduct ceases to be legally relevant, although it may have a factual relevance to foresight or causation. The Judge accepted that this was the case but ruled that in the final analysis that it was for the Court to determine whether even the most widely followed practice was acceptable. There had been a number of similar cases in the 1980's. 12. Mr Walker's challenge to these findings was based on a single point. In X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council [1995] 2 AC 633 five appeals were heard together by the House of Lords because they raised, by way of preliminary issues, similar questions about the duty of care. 117. * Enter a valid Journal (must Against that judgment the Board now appeals. Should the principles, as derived from the established cases, lead to a finding of a duty of care in this case? The first of these to enter the ring, Dr Shapiro, reached Mr Watson seven minutes after the fight had been stopped, i.e. A primary injury such as that described can have secondary consequences which are much more serious. This involves intubation, or the insertion of an endotracheal tube. It seems to me that the authorities support a principle that, where A places himself in a relationship to B in which Bs physical safety becomes dependant upon the acts and omissions of A, As conduct can suffice to impose on A a duty to exercise reasonable care for Bs safety. and Had the board simply given advice to all involved in professional boxing as to appropriate medical precautions, it would be strongly arguable that there was insufficient proximity between the board and individual boxers to give rise to a duty of care. It was Mr Walker's submission that there was no reliance. He did so, notwithstanding, so it was alleged, that the mismatch between gearbox and propeller made the aircraft unairworthy. The phrase means simply that the law recognises that there is a duty of care. Throughout, the child was very dependent upon the expert's assessment. None of the three doctors present went to his assistance until requested to do so. In delivering the leading speech Lord Browne-Wilkinson observed at p.739: "The question whether there is such a common law duty and if so its ambit, must be profoundly influenced by the statutory framework within which the acts complained of were done.". Lord Steyn, however, gave short shrift to an argument based on assumption of responsibility: "Given that the cargo owners were not even aware of N.K.K. He distinguished the fire and police `rescue' cases on the ground that: "This was not a case of general reliance, but specific reliance. Learn. 61. There is no question but that anyone with the appropriate expertise would have advised such a system whatever reservations they may have had, as had Professor Teasdale, about its ultimate utility.". To hold that, in such circumstances, the head teacher could properly ignore the matter and make no attempt to deal with it would fly in the face, not only of society's expectations of what a school will provide, but also the fine traditions of the teaching profession itself. At the end of December 1991 the net assets of the Board were about 352,000. i) that it owed no duty of care to Mr Watson; ii) that if it owed the duty alleged, it committed no breach; and. The peculiar features of the duty of care alleged are as follows: i) the duty alleged is not to take reasonable care to avoid causing personal injury. Only about twenty-five British boxers succeeded in earning a full-time living from the sport. Flashcards. This decision turned, essentially, on considerations of policy in relation to the role of a classification society in the context of the complex arrangements for sharing, limiting and insuring the risks inherent in carriage of goods by sea. If authority is needed for this approach, it is to be found in the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in Perrett v Collins [1998] 2 LL.L.Rep. By opening its doors to others to take advantage of the service offered, it comes under a duty of care to those using the service to exercise care in its conduct. "The Board does not create the danger. By the time he received resuscitation in hospital he had sustained permanent brain damage which such treatment would have prevented. Dealing with the arguments of policy advanced on behalf of PFA, Buxton L.J. Throughout these contests the boxers' performance should be noted and any untoward medical problems arising should be reported to the Area Council or Board. Ringside medical facilities were available, but did not provide immediate resuscitation. So may be an education officer performing the functions of a local education authority in regard to children with special educational needs. It was open to Mr Watson to provide, or to stipulate for the promoter to provide, additional medical precautions. I can summarise the position as follows. He was taken on a stretcher to an ambulance which was standing by which took him to North Middlesex Hospital. An analogy can be drawn with the duty of an employer, whose activities involve a particular health risk, to make provision for its employees to receive appropriate medical attention - see Stokes v. Guest Keen & Nettlefold (Bolts & Nuts) [1968] 1 WLR 1776. In that case a doctor phoned for an ambulance to take to hospital urgently a patient who had suffered an asthma attack. The promoters and the boxers do not themselves address considerations of safety. Since the seminal case of Condon v Basi [1985] . Many sports involve a risk of physical injury to the participants. This concludes my summary of the facts which I consider material to the question of whether the Board owed a duty of care to Mr Watson. The agreed time of reception at the hospital was 23.22. This involved taking precautions or giving instructions for them to be taken so that the work could be done with safety.