Reference no: EM133436631

Case Study: Fred was driving through the Riverpool Docks area in his Volkswagon Cabriolet. He was trying to ?nd a station on the radio and did not have his full attention on the road. He failed to notice a bag of sawdust that had just dropped onto his side of the road out of one of Woody Sawdust Ltd's upstairs windows. When he looked up at the last minute, he swerved violently to avoid the bag and hit Dave, who was walking along the pavement, breaking his leg. Had Fred been looking at the road he would have easily avoided the bag without losing control of his car or could have stopped in good time. Woody Sawdust deny all liability for the bag of sawdust as they have no idea who was responsible or what happened. Dave was rushed to hospital where he was seen by Doctor Smith. Dr Smith examined Dave but failed to notice a complication in the break which required a special type of treatment. As a result, Dave's injury may never completely heal. Most hospital doctors would have examined for this potential complication with this type of injury. Dr Smith says that in his hospital it is the commonly accepted practice not to look for the possibility of the complication.

Question: Discuss how the courts would determine whether there has been a breach of duty by Fred, Woody Sawdust and Dr Smith.