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The Judge did not rely upon the specific evidence given by Mr Watson about reliance. I shall have to examine the facts and reasoning in Perrett in due course, for Mr Mackay, QC, for Mr Watson has relied upon it as providing a close analogy with the present case. 9. Once the defendant had become involved in the activity which gives rise to the risk, he comes under the duty to act reasonably in all respects relevant to that risk. He was also given an injection of Manitol, a diuretic that can have the effect of reducing swelling of the brain. 101. Therefore in giving that advice he owes a duty to the child to exercise the skill and care of a reasonable advisory teacher.". 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. Finally I return to Perrett v. Collins, the only case referred to by Ian Kennedy J. when considering the question of duty of care. Herbert Smith, London. In Caparo v Dickman at p.617 Lord Bridge considered a series of decisions of the Privy Council and the House of Lords in relation to the duty of care in negligence and summarised their effect as follows:-. Mr Morris, commenting in his Witness Statement on the Statement of Claim, stated: "We do collaborate with the medical profession, indeed we believe that our Rules are as good as currently can be devised, taking into account the medical interests of the boxers, and the requirements of the sport itself. The agreed time of reception at the hospital was 23.22. The propeller was mismatched to the gearbox. The Board next drew attention to evidence that a member of the public having sustained brain damage in a road accident would not expect to receive from the ambulance attending the scene the resuscitation service which the Judge held should have been available at the ringside. He emphasised that the Board does not provide medical treatment or employ doctors. in that case. I do not believe there is any difference in principle between giving advice about safety and laying down rules to provide for safety. The Judge went on to review such statistical evidence as there was in relation to the frequency of occurrence of head injuries in boxing and observed that there had been no evidence to suggest that the Board considered and balanced the difficulty of providing the adequate response to the risks of head injury against their frequency of occurrence and severity of outcome. In these circumstances there is no close proximity between the services and the general public. It shall be adequately lit, have an examination couch and possess hot and cold running water. Where there is a potential for physical injury, I do not believe that I have to go beyond the traditional concept of neighbourhood to find a duty where there is, as here, a clearly foreseeable danger. 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. 36. The Board also argued that the nearest hospital with an Accident and Emergency Department was so close that a system which delayed the possibility of resuscitation for the few minutes that would be necessary to get to the hospital, was satisfactory. These cases were distinguished in Kent v Griffiths [2000] 2 WLR 1158. The present case can only be decided on the basis of an intense and particular focus on all its distinctive features, and then applying established legal principles to it.". He gave evidence that he agreed with Mr Hamlyn's views. Mr Watson was the third boxer on whom Mr Hamlyn had operated for similar injuries. In my judgment, the same duty applies to any other person possessed of special skills, such as a social worker. Even absent such an express requirement, it seems to me that if the protocol had been in place, the doctors present should have been aware of the desirability of examining Mr Watson's condition in the circumstances that had occurred, whether or not the rules expressly required this. JURISDICTION TO INTERPRET A FEDERATION'S RULES OF PROCEDURE IN DOPING CASES41 a) Case of Smith v International Triathlon Union (Supreme Court of British Colombia, Vancouver, The precise nature of the company's constitution is not covered by the evidence. 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. In support of that proposition Mr. Walker relied upon X v Bedfordshire CC and Stovin v Wise [1996] AC 923. The fight was terminated at 22.54. These make it necessary: i) to identify the principles which are relied upon as giving rise to a duty of care in this case. 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)). B. Herbert Smith, London. "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. Boxing is the only sport where this is the object of the exercise. Efforts continue and will continue to improve safety standards and these efforts are and were on-going prior to the Watson fight.". The social workers and the psychiatrists were retained by the local authority to advise the local authority, not the plaintiffs. Those limits have been found by the requirement of what has been called a "relationship of proximity" between plaintiff and defendant and by the imposition of a further requirements that the attachment of liability for harm which has occurred be "just and reasonable". There are, however, authorities dealing with advice given to third parties that foreseeably resulted in injury to the person or property of claimants. Nor do I see why the fact that the Board is a non profit-making organisation should provide it with an immunity from liability in negligence. the concern of the Board for the physical safety of boxers is reflected in many of the Board's rules and regulations. Lord Nicholls posed and answered the following question at p.802: "Take a case where an educational psychologist is employed by an education authority. [2001] QB 1134 was a case of the Court of Appeal of England Michael Watson was injured in a boxing match supervised by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC or BBBC), which was expected to provide medical care. for the existence of a duty of care were present. Creating a unique profile web page containing interviews, posts, articles, as well as the cases you have appeared in, greatly enhances your digital presence on search engines such Google and Bing, resulting in increased client interest. 56. The witness best placed to deal with the consideration, if any, given to this matter would have been Mr Whiteson. Without it, the system of personal injury compensation would not have survived. The Board was involved in an activity which gave it, not merely a measure of control, but complete control over and a responsibility for a situation which would be liable to result in injury to Mr Watson if reasonable care was not exercised by the Board. The purpose of his assessment was to enable him to give expert advice to the education authority about the child. It is on this basis that it is possible to draw a distinction between the doctor who goes to the assistance of the victim of a road accident and the hospital that receives that victim into its casualty department. It was Mr Walker's submission that there was no reliance. Thus the criteria identified by Hobhouse L.J. Instead he argued that even if resuscitation had been used, it would have been used too late to affect the outcome. However, should this not be so, then the boxer's gumshield should be removed, an adequate airway established and the boxer put on his left side so that should he fit or vomit he will not obstruct his airway. I would simply comment that if the Board were given the statutory function of directing what medical assistance should be provided to boxers at the stadium, I consider that it would be at least arguable that they owed boxers a duty of care in exercising that function. The vessel sailed and sank a few days later with the loss of the cargo. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control (1999) (QBD) During a professional boxing contest, the claimant suffered a sub-dural haemorrhage resulting in irreversible brain damage which left him with, among other things, a left-sided partial paralysis. The Judge summarised his findings on the facts as follows:-. This argument was allied to Mr Walker's submission that the Judge should not have found that the rules should have required immediate medical attention to be given to a boxer where his physical condition led to the contest being stopped. The local council had waived a requirement that the balustrade meet the . Match. 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. .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. The patient can then be taken straight to the nearest neurosurgical unit. This point was put to the Judge. 5. The ambulance took him to North Middlesex Hospital, which was less than a mile away. He sued the owner, Mr Usherwood and the Popular Flying Association ("the PFA"). The Judge's findings in relation to breach of duty appear from the following passages in his judgment: "The standard response where the presence of subdural bleeding is known or suspected has been agreed since at least 1980, which is to intubate, ventilate, sedate, paralyse, and in Britain at least, to administer Manitol. This would mean an appointment of a Senior Medical officer specifically for the major event and then two other doctors on duty to ensure that there were always two doctors at the ringside while a major contest was taking place.". In my judgment there is a clear distinction between the role of the Board and the role of a fire service or the police service. 74. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-3','ezslot_5',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-3-0'); Cited by: Cited Binod Sutradhar v Natural Environment Research Council CA 20-Feb-2004 The defendant council had carried out research into a water supply in India in the 1980s. 120. So may be an education officer performing the functions of a local education authority in regard to children with special educational needs. In contrast the injuries which are sustained by professional boxers are the foreseeable, indeed inevitable, consequence of an activity which the Board sponsors, encourages and controls. There are features of this case which are extraordinary, if not unique. The position as to the selection of doctors for a contest that prevailed in 1991 was as follows. * The Board failed to ensure that those running the contest knew which hospitals in the vicinity had a neurosurgical capability. 99. On 24 September 1999 Ian Kennedy J., gave judgment in favour of Mr Watson against the Board. PFA was not a commercial undertaking. Dr Whiteson did not give evidence. If it was held liable it might withdraw from its work, or have to pass on the cost of increased insurance to the detriment of small aircraft operators. It was the evidence of Mr Watson's experts that, while brain damage of the type I have described is cumulative, what happens in the first ten minutes is particularly critical. It is, however, clear that the test is an objective one: Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd., [1995] 2 AC 145, 181. In his Witness Statement, Mr Morris accepted that the following averment in the Statement of Claim was "basically correct": "at all material times, by reason of the effective control over boxing that the Board assumed, the Board was in a position to determine, and did in fact determine, the measures that were taken in boxing to protect and promote the health and safety of boxers. A primary injury such as that described can have secondary consequences which are much more serious.