THE EXTENT OF ‘MEASURED DUTY OF CARE’

In Lambert v Barratt Homes Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 681, [2010] All ER (D) 113 (Jun) the Court of Appeal considered the circumstances in which an owner of land can be subject to a ‘measured duty of care’ to take reasonable steps to abate a nuisance which arose from flooding on its land which resulted in damage to the property of the claimants. The cause of the flooding was the negligence of a third party developer. While the Court of Appeal held that the landowners were under a measured duty of care, it was held that the duty did not require the landowner to meet the whole cost of the relief works.