The history of the Board can be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century, but the Board itself was constituted as an unincorporated association in 1929. Search for more papers by this author. He could have been treated on the spot, and had an endotrachael tube inserted, been ventilated and thereafter transferred directly to a Neurosurgical Unit where CT scan facilities were available. "What emerges is that, in addition to the forceability of damage, necessary ingredients in any situation giving rise to a duty of care are that there should exist between the party owing the duty and the party to whom it is owed, a relationship characterised by the law as one of "proximity" or "neighbourhood" and that the situation should be one in which the court considers it fair, just and reasonable that the law should impose a duty of a given scope upon the one party for the benefit of the other". The facilities include a scheme which enables members to construct and fly their own light aircraft. In order to explain these allegations, I propose to summarise the evidence on: * the nature of injuries such as those suffered by Mr Watson; * the manner in which such injuries were treated in hospital in 1991; * the manner in which such injuries should have been treated at the ringside and. Boxing is the only sport where this is the object of the exercise. James George, James George. rejected the submission that any negligence on the part of Mr Usherwood was only an indirect cause of the crash. (pp.27-8). He suffered severe brain damage after being injuredduring a match. 30. These make it necessary: i) to identify the principles which are relied upon as giving rise to a duty of care in this case. In this the Judge was correct. 66. The owner of the aircraft took off, with the Plaintiff onboard as a passenger. Mr Watson's injuries were not, however, without precedent. The local hospital was close to the boxing ring and therefore the transfer occurred very quickly and during this period of time, as far as I can ascertain, his condition was satisfactory and the insertion of an endotrachael tube was not absolutely necessary. The company, as the Popular Flying Association, appoint inspectors for the purpose of, among other things, inspecting aircraft during the course of their construction by members of the association and certifying whether the relevant work has been done to his "entire satisfaction" and the aircraft is in an airworthy condition. He criticised the Judge for saying that there was no difference in principle between "giving advice about safety and laying down rules to provide for safety". Lord Steyn, however, gave short shrift to an argument based on assumption of responsibility: "Given that the cargo owners were not even aware of N.K.K. 107. The Claimant would have been resuscitated within a few minutes of 23.00 and in St. Bartholomews by 23.45 at the latest. Therefore, it is likely that injuries arising from such play occur frequently but when do they occur as an act of negligence? in that case. Sharpe v Avery [1938] 4 All E.R. 118. It would seem impossible to contend that the plaintiff would not be affected by the decisions and plans drawn up by the architect.". I turn to consider the extent to which there are categories of cases, in which a duty of care has been held to exist, or alternatively held not to exist involving these features. The onlookers derive entertainment, but none of the physical and moral benefits which have been seen as the fruits of engagement in many sports.". We do not provide advice. In the leading speech Lord Slynn advanced the following statement of principle at pp.790-1: "As to the first question, it is long and well-established, now elementary, that persons exercising a particular skill or profession may owe a duty of care in the performance to people who it can be foreseen will be injured if due skill and care are not exercised, and if injury or damage can be shown to have been caused by the lack of care. Later that day, there was a rise in intra-cranial pressure and a second operation was performed, on this occasion by Mr Hamlyn, to remove a new collection of blood and staunch a bleeding vein and artery. deprecated the introduction of tests such as `proximity' and `fair just and reasonable' in a situation where it was reasonably foreseeable that a failure to exercise reasonable care would cause personal injury: "They also illustrate the dangers of substituting for clear criteria, criteria which are incapable of precise definition and involve what can only be described as an element of subjective assessment by the Court: such ultimately subjective assessments tend inevitably to lead to uncertainty and anomaly which can be avoided by a more principled approach". The Board's Medical Committee had issued detailed advice to Medical Officers in relation to their duty at the ringside which was in force at the time of the Watson/Eubank fight. He went on to hold that, in relation to the child abuse cases, the statutory scheme was incompatible with the existence of a direct common law duty of care owed by the local authorities. The issue is whether the standard of reasonable care required the Board to change their practice in order to address the risks of such injuries before the Watson/Eubank fight. Tort Case Law. Had the Board said nothing, it might not be liable, but once it gave advice by setting rules, it came to be responsible. In 1990 Mr Watson had been involved in litigation with his manager, in which the Board had filed an Affidavit. In Caparo Plc v Dickman [1990] 2 AC 605, and in many subsequent cases, the House of Lords and this Court have approved the approach to the development of the law of negligence recommended by Brennan J. in the High Court of Australia in Sutherland Shire Council v Heyman (1985) 60 A.L.R. 100. "There is always a risk, and the pool from which professional boxers tend to be recruited is unlikely to be one with an innate or well-informed concern about safety, and one may ask why should the individual boxer not rely on the Board's arrangements? Mr Morris told the court that he would expect the Medical Committee, and its Chief Medical Officer, to keep abreast of developments in sports medicine that impacted on the safety of boxers in the ring. There are, however, authorities dealing with advice given to third parties that foreseeably resulted in injury to the person or property of claimants. This contention had some similarities to submissions made in relation to the Popular Flying Association in Perrett v Collins. The doctor does not, by examining the applicant, come under any general duty of medical care to the applicant. b) A limit on the number of rounds to twelve (Rule 3.7). In addition to the two doctors required by the rules, there was, on the direction of the Board, a third medical officer present. While this may not be true of the volunteer who offers assistance at the scene of an accident, it will be true of a body whose purpose is or includes the provision of such assistance. JURISDICTION TO INTERPRET A FEDERATION'S RULES OF PROCEDURE IN DOPING CASES41 a) Case of Smith v International Triathlon Union (Supreme Court of British Colombia, Vancouver, He held the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1989-1991. . In Caparo v Dickman at p.617 Lord Bridge considered a series of decisions of the Privy Council and the House of Lords in relation to the duty of care in negligence and summarised their effect as follows:-. [2] The case was then appealed to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, where a 3-judge panel consisting of Phillips MR, May LJ and Laws LJ delivered their judgment on 19 December 2000. The facilities provided accorded with the advice to medical officers issued by the Board's Medical Committee, to which I referred earlier. 78. First he submitted that the Board exercises a public function which it has assumed for the public good. 65. It does not follow that the decision in this case is the thin end of a wedge. In the event, without explanation, he was not tendered as a witness and objection was taken to the use of his witness statement. The BBBC had a series of rules on the medical coverage needed for boxing matches, which required two doctors to be present at all times. These facts produced a relationship of close proximity between the Board and those of its members who were professional boxers. The comparison drawn by Mr Walker between the Board and a rescuer is not apt. He said that a report had identified the risks. I think that the Judge was right. Throughout these contests the boxers' performance should be noted and any untoward medical problems arising should be reported to the Area Council or Board. That phrase can be misleading in that it can suggest that the professional person must knowingly and deliberately accept responsibility. Since the seminal case of Condon v Basi [1985] . It was accepted that, if the survey had been negligent the loss of the cargo was a foreseeable consequence. An operation was carried out to remove a moderate size haematoma and to close such veins as were found to be oozing blood. 29. 92. It is clear on the authorities that the duty to take reasonable care to prevent further harm and to effect a cure is founded on the acceptance of the patient as a patient, which carries with it an implicit undertaking to care for the patient's needs. The doctors required by the rules to be present at a contest had to be doctors who had been approved by the Board. The subject matter of the advice and activities of the professionals is the child. This submission involves considering the timing of events and the Judge's findings in relation to the impact of these on causation. 81. The Board is non-profit making. A preliminary issue was tried as to whether Mr Usherwood and the PFA owed the Plaintiff a duty of care. Any loss of consciousness was short lived - he regained his feet and walked to his corner. This meant doctors able to intubate and put up a drip to treat the injured boxer immediately with Manitol. But once the decision is taken to offer such a service, a statutory body is in general in the same position as any private individual or organisation holding itself out as offering such a service. In such a case the authority running the hospital is under a duty to those whom it admits to exercise reasonable care in the way it runs it: see Gold v Essex County Council [1942] 2 K.B. On the law relied upon by the Judge, this was all that Mr Watson needed to succeed. He makes a diagnosis and advises the education authority. Each venue must have a room set aside exclusively for medical purposes. The referee stopped the fight in the final round when Watson appeared to be unable to defend himself. In his Witness Statement Mr John Morris, General Secretary of the Board said "The Board believes as I do, that the safety of the boxers is of great importance and takes precedence over commercial and other interests". Lord Woolf M.R. In Smoldon v Whitworth [1997] PIQR P133 the duty of care had been conceded in the context of a school colts game and similarly, boxing came under scrutiny in Watson v British Boxing. The board lost its. Each doctor is expected to attend a tournament fully equipped to cover all emergencies. At p.1172 he summarised his conclusion as follows:-. Similarly none of the particular difficulties which arise in relation to economic loss arise in relation to the causing of personal injury. He emphasised that the Board does not provide medical treatment or employ doctors. CLUE. At this stage it is enough to note that the advice set out the professional expertise expected of the medical officers and details of equipment needed to perform their duties. In this case the following matters are particularly material: 1. The Board contended that this was unjustifiable, since it would require Rules which in effect instructed doctors as to how to perform their duties. I found this submission unrealistic. As Mr Morris accepted, by reason of its control over boxing the Board was in a position to determine, and did in fact determine, the measures that were taken in boxing to protect and promote the health and safety of boxers. The ordinary test of reasonable skill and care is the correct one to apply. The peculiar features of the duty of care alleged are as follows: i) the duty alleged is not to take reasonable care to avoid causing personal injury. Letang v Cooper - Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 - Watson v British Boxing Board of Control - Bernstein of Leigh v Skyviews & General Ltd -. Each emphatically concluded that it was. The British Boxing Board of Control have confirmed they are moving their base to Cardiff from London. for the existence of a duty of care were present. Learn. They also argued that it was not fair, just and reasonable that the PFA should be liable to negligence. The Board, however, arrogates to itself the task of determining what medical facilities will be provided at a contest by (i) requiring the boxer and the promoter to contract on terms under which the Board's Rules will apply and (ii) making provision in those Rules for the medical facilities and assistance to be provided to care for the boxer in the event of injury. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control The Importance of Evidence in Proving a Breach of Duty Rugby Rugby is a dangerous sport with heavy body collisions between players and regularly, multiple players at any given time. 63. The boxers display skill, strength and courage, but nobody pretends that they do good to themselves or others. I do not find this surprising. Mr Hamlyn said, and I accept, that there would have been very few British neurosurgeons who at this time would have questioned the need to put up a line and administer this diuretic in a case such as the present. Boxing members of the Board, including Mr Watson, could reasonably rely upon the Board to look after their safety. If authority is needed for this approach, it is to be found in the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in Perrett v Collins [1998] 2 LL.L.Rep.