NO NEGLIGENCE IN DESIGN OF WINDOWS

Adams v Rhymney Valley District Council [2001] PNLR 68

In Adams v Rhymney Valley District Council [2001] PNLR 68 the Court of Appeal held that the defendant local authority had not been negligent in the design of the windows which they had installed in their properties. The defendants had produced a design which was one which skilled and careful people had produced and they could not be said to have been negligent simply because they had not surveyed the range of professional opinion on the design of windows before deciding which type of window to install. This case, together with the decision of the Court of Appeal in J D Williams & Co Ltd v Michael Hyde & Associates Ltd [2001] BLR 99 (discussed in more detail below), demonstrates that there remains some judicial uncertainty about the scope of the principle laid down in Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582.