RES IPSA LOQUITUR AND LIABILITY FOR FIRE DAMAGE

Drake v Harbour [2008] EWCA 25, 31 January 2008

In Drake v Harbour [2008] EWCA 25, 31 January 2008, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal from the decision of Judge Wilcox (on which see our October 2007 issue, pp. 11–12) and held that the defendant electrician was liable to the claimant for damage caused to her house in a fire. Adopting a ‘reasonably robust approach’ to causation, the Court of Appeal held that Judge Wilcox had been entitled to conclude as a matter of probability that the fire resulted from the defendant’s established negligence, even though the claimant had not been able to demonstrate the exact mechanism which led to the arcing and overheating which had ultimately caused the fire.