Private law remedies against public authorities

In CN & Anor v Poole Borough Council [2016] EWHC 569 (QB), the Divisional Court rejected an argument that D v East Berkshire NHS Trust and Others [2004] QB 558 (a duty of care is owed by childcare professionals to children in their care) had been implicitly overruled by the House of Lords in Mitchell v Glasgow Council [2009] 1 AC 874 and by the Supreme Court in Michael v Chief Constable of Wales [2015] 2 WLR 343.

The case involved an appeal by the Claimants, who were both children, from a Judgment and Order of Master Eastman that their negligence claims against Poole council for failing to protect them from harassment from neighbours on the estate where they lived were struck out.

Mrs Justice Slade said she was bound to apply D v Berkshire, the result being that the boys' claims had been wrongly struck out. She also held that the case of X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council [1995] 2 AC 633 did not preclude them from pursuing their claim in the circumstances of the case.