ESCAPE IN CONSEQUENCE OF NON-NATURAL USE OF LAND: STATUTORY REGULATION, INSURANCE CONSIDERATIONS AND ‘HIGHER’ DUTIES OF CARE

LMS International Ltd and others v Styrene Packaging and Insulation Ltd and others [2005] EWHC 2065 (TCC) (unreported, 30 September 2005)

Rachel Kapila

In LMS International Ltd and others v Styrene Packaging and Insulation Ltd and others [2005] EWHC 2065 (TCC) (unreported, 30 September 2005) Judge Peter Coulson QC held that the first defendants were liable under the rule in Rylands v Fletcher for the spread of fire from their factory premises to those of the claimants. This liability was not precluded by the various general Fire and Health and Safety Regulations which applied to the premises, since these regulations did not apply directly to the dangerous things being stored. Nor was liability affected by the insurance position of the claimants; Judge Coulson’s view was that the existence or otherwise of insurance in favour of a claimant should not, of itself, be determinative of that party’s right of action in law. In addition, Judge Coulson found that the first defendants were liable in negligence. In reaching this view, he commented that it was not right as a matter of law to say that the duty of care owed to the claimants was different or more onerous than usual, simply because of the nature of the first defendants’ business. The first defendants’ duty was to take reasonable care to ensure that there was no fire or that any fire did not spread to the claimants’ property, and this duty had to be considered in the light of all the relevant circumstances.