When will a Public authority owe a Duty of care?

The Supreme Court considered the duty of care owed by public authorities in the cases of Michael and Robinson.

In Michael, Ms Michael made a 999 call to inform the police that her former partner had threatened to kill her. However, the call handler failed to pass on the threat to kill and as a result the 999 call was given a lower priority which caused a delay in the police response. Ms Michael was killed by her ex-partner before the police arrived.

In Robinson, an elderly pedestrian was knocked over by police officers who were trying to arrest a suspected drug dealer.

In these cases, the Supreme Court set out the following general principles which apply in cases against public authorities:

1. •

   a duty of care is owed to avoid negligent acts (subject to harm being foreseeable)

2. •

   the common law does not normally impose a duty of care to protect individuals from harm caused