I think that the Judge was right. He emphasised that the Board does not provide medical treatment or employ doctors. In Caparo v Dickman the Court recognised a duty of care owed by auditors to all the members of a company. These can be divided into three categories: i) rules designed to ensure that a boxer is not permitted to fight unless he is fit. 89. This has left him paralysed down the left side and with other physical and mental disability. The first challenge to the Judge's finding on breach of duty was that he applied the wrong test. In 1990 Mr Watson had been involved in litigation with his manager, in which the Board had filed an Affidavit. None of the three doctors present went to his assistance until requested to do so. 40. He won a historic High Court case in Sept 1999, raising questions about the future of the professional sport in the UK. There are many instances of this. The ambulance took him to North Middlesex Hospital, which was less than a mile away. 57. The owner of the aircraft took off, with the Plaintiff onboard as a passenger. The ambulance should be prepared to go direct to the Neurological unit that had been placed on stand-by. b) The rule that a Licence may be suspended or withdrawn if, in the opinion of the Board or an Area Council, the licence-holder is not medically fit to box (Rule 4.9(b)(I)). .if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-4-0'); Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete. Its experience, contacts and resources exceed his own. This seems to me to be, on its face, an example par excellence of a situation where the law will regard the professional as owing a duty of care to a third party as well as his own employer.". The architect, by reason of his contractual arrangement with the building owner, was charged with the duty of preparing the necessary plans and making arrangements for the manner in which the work should be done. The contest was sponsored not by the Board, but by the World Boxing Organisation (WBO). In accordance with normal practice, the medical officers for the contest were nominated by the Southern Area Council. In the event Mr Walker did not put this pleaded Ground of Appeal at the forefront of his argument. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe. James George, James George. In the second place it was not practical to use this equipment while the ambulance was on the move. I do not believe there is any difference in principle between giving advice about safety and laying down rules to provide for safety. 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. a) A requirement that a boxer must be medically examined before being granted a licence, together with a list of medical conditions that preclude the grant of a licence. Search for more papers by this author. iii) Those taking part in the activity, and Mr Watson in particular, relied upon the Board to ensure that all reasonable steps were taken to provide immediate and effective medical attention and treatment to those injured in the course of the activity. Thus a person may be liable for directing someone into a dangerous location (e.g. It has the ability to require of promoters what it sees as good practice. A primary stated object of the Board was to look after its boxing member's physical safety. They support the proposition that the act of undertaking to cater for the medical needs of a victim of illness or injury will generally carry with it the duty to exercise reasonable care in addressing those needs. 5. (pp.27-8). The fight was terminated at 22.54. 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. Michael Alexander Watson v British Boxing Board of Control Ltd, World Boxing Organisation Incorporated: CA 19 Dec 2000 The claimant was seriously injured in a professional boxing match governed by rules established by the defendant's rules. had not been responsible for the claimant's asthma but it had caused the respiratory arrest and to this extent the L.A.S was the author of additional damage.". This involved taking precautions or giving instructions for them to be taken so that the work could be done with safety. Appeal from Watson v British Board of Boxing Control QBD 12-Oct-1999 A governing body of a sport, had a duty to insist on arrangements for sporting events, held under its aegis, to ensure proper access to medical aid. It was accepted that, if the survey had been negligent the loss of the cargo was a foreseeable consequence. By clicking on this tab, you are expressly stating that you were one of the attorneys appearing in this matter. 4. 24. In an opinion read by Phillips MR, the court upheld Kennedy's decision, noting that it "broke new ground". Test. The medical room should be situated in close proximity to the boxer's dressing rooms and be reasonable accessible to and from the ring. The movement of the brain within the skull may rupture veins, or more rarely an artery, inside the head leading to bleeding which builds up into a blood clot or haematoma. Next Mr. Walker argued that the duty of care alleged was one owed for an indeterminate time to an indeterminate number of persons. To my mind it is difficult in such a situation to profess a concern for safety and to deny a duty such as I have described. In the final round, Watson lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, arriving there nearly half an hour after the end of the fight and received resuscitation treatment. In the second case he reached the following conclusions of principle at p.766: "In my judgment a school which accepts a pupil assumes responsibility not only for his physical well being but also for his educational needs. Nearly half an hour elapsed between the end of the fight and the time that he got there. The broad function of the Board is to support professional boxing. 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:-. It is always better to err on the side of caution and even if a boxer has recovered sufficiently to leave the ring unaided, if and when he returns to the dressing room he exhibits any sign of persistent concussion or admits to any persistent headaches, visual disturbance or vomiting he should be immediately transferred to the local hospital where the expert advice of Neurologists and Neurosurgeons can be obtained. I would echo the comment of Lord Steyn in Marc Rich & Co. v Bishop Rock Ltd [1996] AC 211 at p.236: "None of the cases cited provided any realistic analogy to be used as a springboard for a decision one way or the other in this case. 90. He submitted that, having regard to the chaos prevailing at the end of the fight, Mr Watson would not have received medical attention for seven minutes, even if the Hamlyn protocol had been in place. He makes a diagnosis and advises the education authority. No contest shall take place unless fully trained personnel are able to operate such resuscitation equipment are present throughout the promotion.". He had in fact sustained a brain haemorrhage and, after returning to his corner, he lapsed into unconsciousness on his stool. He distinguished the fire and police `rescue' cases on the ground that: "This was not a case of general reliance, but specific reliance. It carried out this function by making and imposing rules dealing with the safety of boxers, by approving medical officers and by giving detailed guidance as to the qualifications and equipment those officers should bring to the ringside. The distinction between negligent misstatement and other forms of conduct ceases to be legally relevant, although it may have a factual relevance to foresight or causation. 51. In fact the Board had required a third doctor to be present and that an ambulance should be in attendance. Each area had a Chief Medical Officer, whose duties included the approval of doctors who wished to serve as medical officers at boxing matches. The Board encouraged and supported its boxing members in the pursuit of an activity which involved inevitable physical injury and the need for medical precautions against the consequences of such injury. Once brought into contact with the plaintiffs, the professionals owed a duty properly to exercise their professional skills in dealing with their `patients', the plaintiffs. Mr. Usherwood was the person who was carrying out this role in relation to Mr. Collins' assembly of this aircraft. A duty of care at this stage had been conceded by the Ministry of Defence, but in Capital and Counties v. Hampshire this Court commented at p.1038 that this was not surprising as the deceased was under the command of the officer concerned. He answered that it took something like the injury to Mr Watson to make the Committee think of changing the practice. agreed with Hobhouse L.J. Of course.these three matters overlap with each other and are really facets of the same thing. The vessel sailed and sank a few days later with the loss of the cargo. There are features of this case which are extraordinary, if not unique. He held that anyone with the appropriate expertise would have advised the adoption of such a system. He claimed that the Board had been under a duty of care to see that all reasonable steps were taken to ensure that he received immediate and effective medical attention and treatment should he sustain injury in the fight. 133. in that case. In order that, when complete, the aircraft can obtain first a provisional and then a full certificate of airworthiness, the assembly of the aircraft has to be supervised and checked by an inspector. A little later he said "As Chief Medical Officer, my approach has always been that preventative controls are the key to making a physically hazardous sport as safe as possibleour interest in preventative controls covers the whole gamut of professional boxing.". Had the Board's rules required Mr Hamlyn's protocol to be put in place, the doctors present could have been expected to have resorted to resuscitation. In a Witness Statement in the present proceedings, Mr Watson stated that this accorded with his understanding as a boxer that the Board undertook responsibility for all the medical aspects of boxing, including the medical supervision of boxing contests, in the United Kingdom. The Board set out by its rules, directions and guidance, to make comprehensive provision for the services to be provided to safeguard the health of the boxer. at p.258 as follows: "The third defendants are a trading company incorporated under the companies Acts. 17. Of these, the vast majority were semi-professional. Mr Watson's case can be summarised as follows: i) The Board assumed responsibility for the control of an activity the essence of which was that personal injuries should be sustained by those participating. The subject matter of the advice and activities of the professionals is the child. Obviously a full report should then be sent to the relevant Area Council or Board and the sooner this is done, from a medical view point, the better.". 115. The principles alleged to give rise to a duty of care in this case are those of assumption of responsibility and reliance. The provision made by those rules in relation to medical assistance was plain. Dr Whiteson did not give evidence. It was Mr Walker's submission that there was no reliance. Test. The Board has argued that until this accident no-one had suggested that they should institute this protocol. "As a general rule a sufficient relationship will exist when someone possessed of a special skill undertakes to apply that skill for the assistance of another person who relies upon such skill and there is direct and substantial reliance by the plaintiff on the defendant's skill. Dealing with the arguments of policy advanced on behalf of PFA, Buxton L.J. The Judge's findings in relation to breach of duty appear from the following passages in his judgment: "The standard response where the presence of subdural bleeding is known or suspected has been agreed since at least 1980, which is to intubate, ventilate, sedate, paralyse, and in Britain at least, to administer Manitol. If PFA was not liable in negligence, the Plaintiff might be left without a remedy against anyone. He was also given an injection of Manitol, a diuretic that can have the effect of reducing swelling of the brain. So far I have not dealt with the question of reliance by Mr Watson on the exercise of care by the Board. A doctor must be available to give immediate attention to any boxer should this be required. [1988] 1 AC 1074 at 1090; and Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority [1987] 1 AC 750 at 783. The Board's Grounds of Appeal argued that in making policy decisions, the Board ought not to be held to be negligent unless such decisions were found to be wholly irrational. His belief was that the brain damage that occurred in each case could probably have been avoided in whole or in a large part if the boxer had received immediate resuscitation at the ringside. Once this proximity exists, it ceases to be material what form the unreasonable conduct takes. They have not succeeded. The precise nature of the company's constitution is not covered by the evidence. Instead he argued that even if resuscitation had been used, it would have been used too late to affect the outcome. He added : "If the plaintiff has been negligently injured by a failing by the PFA, I cannot see that it would be right to withhold relief from him simply on the ground that to grant that relief might cause a rise in the PFA's insurance premiums, or even cause a more expensive system of inspection to be substituted for that of the PFA.". The fight had taken place in accordance with the rules of the British Boxing Board of Control Ltd., ("the Board"). Moreover, since the professionals could foresee that negligent advice would damage the plaintiffs, they are liable to the plaintiffs for tendering such advice to the local authority Like the majority in the Court of Appeal, I cannot accept these arguments. A case that is instructive is the English case of Watson v British Boxing Board of Control ([2001] 2 WLR 1256), the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) was held liable for the injuries sustained by Michael Watson. But at the same time it countenances and gives its blessing to contests where the safety arrangements are those of its making. I am in no doubt that the Judge's decision broke new ground in the law of negligence. His conclusions as to duty are to be found in the following passages from his judgment. Since the seminal case of Condon v Basi [1985] . In particular, the Board controlled the medical assistance that would be provided. They argued that if they had failed to exercise reasonable care, this was not the direct cause of the Plaintiff's injuries - the direct cause being that the aircraft had been designed in a manner that made it unairworthy. 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. In 1991 there were only about 550 active boxers, of which almost all were semi-professional. There are also reasons of public policy for not imposing a duty of care to individuals in relation to the performance of their functions. This concludes my summary of the facts which I consider material to the question of whether the Board owed a duty of care to Mr Watson. He inferred that professional boxers would be unlikely to have an innate or well informed concern about safety. 29. Treatment that should have been provided at the ringside. Outside circles: Next, divide the goal into the major categories of tasks you'll need to accomplish to achieve the greater goalin this case, Title, Studio, Topics, Audience, and so on. That case involved four further claims by children against local education authorities for, among other things, negligently failing to address their special educational needs. The professionals were employed or retained to advise the local authority in relation to the well being of the plaintiffs but not to advise or treat the plaintiffs". It seems to me that this is almost implicit in Mr Walker's argument that to issue such a requirement expressly, was to instruct a doctor as to how to perform his duty. Mr Walker's challenge to these findings was based on a single point. [4] After recovering consciousness, he sued the BBBC, arguing that because they laid down the rules governing professional boxing that ensured his safety, they owed him a duty of care and should have ensured that he was properly and immediately treated. 2. In that case a doctor phoned for an ambulance to take to hospital urgently a patient who had suffered an asthma attack. Without so doing, however, the Judge concluded that for some reason no thought was given to the practicality of introducing at the ringside what he found had been a standard response, where the presence of sub-dural bleeding was known or suspected, since at least 1980. I see no reason why the rules should not have contained the provision suggested by the Judge. Before confirming, please ensure that you have thoroughly read and verified the judgment. When considering whether the Board owed Watson a duty of care, Ian Kennedy J. examined at some length the role played by the Board in imposing, by rules and regulations, the safety standards to be observed by those involved in professional boxing in this country. 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. Sharpe v Avery [1938] 4 All E.R. That regulation has been provided by the Board. 3.5.1 A Referee shall officiate inside the boxing ring to score the contest and act as sole arbiter of the Rules of Boxing except for British and Commonwealth Championship contests, or other such contest that the Stewards in their absolute discretion deem appropriate. QUIZ. At the third stage, questions of `proximity' and of what is `fair, just and reasonable' have to be considered. 46. It trades under the name of the "Popular Flying Association" and it appears that either its main role or one of its main roles is to run that association. Michael Watson suffered a near-fatal brain injury and spent 40 days in a coma after boxing against Chris Eubank, who still struggles to comprehend what happened on that fateful night 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. Once the defendant had become involved in the activity which gives rise to the risk, he comes under the duty to act reasonably in all respects relevant to that risk. A defendant seeking to disturb the findings of fact of a trial Judge in relation to causation undertakes a hard task. Ringside medical facilities were available, but did not provide immediate resuscitation. The plaintiff's allegation is that during this process an alternative gearbox was fitted without the appropriate and corresponding substitution of a propeller which matched the substituted gearbox. I shall revert to the details of this when I come to consider the question of breach. 13. An analogy can be drawn with the duty of an employer, whose activities involve a particular health risk, to make provision for its employees to receive appropriate medical attention - see Stokes v. Guest Keen & Nettlefold (Bolts & Nuts) [1968] 1 WLR 1776. While it might be possible to rationalise the reason for the duty by postulating that there is a general reliance by citizens upon the National Health Service to provide reasonable care in the case of a medical emergency, English law has set its face against this line of reasoning. Thus boxers, promoters, managers, referees, time-keepers, trainers, seconds, masters of ceremonies, match-makers, agents for overseas boxers, ringmasters and whips all have to be licensed by the Board to perform their particular functions and become, when granted their licences, members of the Board. There is no statutory basis for this. Mr Block, the Secretary of the Board's Southern Area Council, reported to the Board that the arrangements in place were satisfactory and that the tournament could receive the Board's approval. 503 at p.517, per Lord Justice Cotton). Mr Watson received resuscitation and neuro-surgery in hospital in circumstances that I shall describe when I come to deal with causation. Get 2 points on providing a valid reason for the above 85. 64. The Board assumes the, 89. This decision turned, essentially, on considerations of policy in relation to the role of a classification society in the context of the complex arrangements for sharing, limiting and insuring the risks inherent in carriage of goods by sea. 105. The Board also argued that the nearest hospital with an Accident and Emergency Department was so close that a system which delayed the possibility of resuscitation for the few minutes that would be necessary to get to the hospital, was satisfactory. 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". The child has a learning difficulty. The claim was based upon the alleged negligent failure of the defendant to enforce disciplinary regulations against drunkenness so as to protect the deceased against his own known proclivity for alcohol . He received only occasional visits of inspection by the duty ratings. The Board had, or had available, medical expertise. 124. 111. In laying down Rules for the benefit of boxers generally, however, Mr Walker submitted that the Board was under no duty of care. But it has never been a requirement of the law of the tort of negligence that there be a particular antecedent relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff other than one that the plaintiff belongs to a class which the defendant contemplates or should contemplate would be affected by his conduct. The Board next drew attention to evidence that a member of the public having sustained brain damage in a road accident would not expect to receive from the ambulance attending the scene the resuscitation service which the Judge held should have been available at the ringside. iii) to decide whether these principles should be applied so as to give rise to a duty of care in the present case. change. It does not follow that the decision in this case is the thin end of a wedge. 9.39.3 (added to the Rules on 25 May 1991)). Where a patient is brought unconscious to hospital as a result of intra-cranial bleeding, the practice is first to apply a process described as resuscitation or stabilisation. Next the Board argued that the presence of an ambulance, with resuscitation equipment, should have satisfied the Judge that this aspect of medical care was adequately provided. "The postulate of a simple duty to avoid any harm that is, with hindsight, reasonably capable of being foreseen becomes untenable without the imposition of some intelligible limits to keep the law of negligence within the bounds of common sense and practicality. 101. 120. The psychologist sees the child and carries out an assessment. The conduct of the activity of professional boxing carries with it, for the small body of men that take part in it, the need for the provision of medical assistance to treat the injuries that they sustain and minimise their adverse consequences. I do not find this surprising. The Judge accepted that this was the case but ruled that in the final analysis that it was for the Court to determine whether even the most widely followed practice was acceptable. 9. 132. Dr Ross, who was a member of the Medical Committee for a number of years before the Watson fight, was asked whether he remembered discussions about treatment in the ring of head injuries before that fight. 128. The following rules fall into this category: 3.8 The promoter shall procure that two doctors, who must be approved by the Area Medical Officer, attend at all promotions, one of whom must be seated at the ringside at all times during the contest. 8. Held: A body which had responsibility for licensing and setting conditions for the boxing matches was liable in negligence when, having assumed responsibility for the boxers medical care, the standards it set were inadequate. IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE Case No: QBENF1999/1137/A2, (1) BRITISH BOXING BOARD OF CONTROL LIMITED, (2) WORLD BOXING ORGANISATION INCORPORATED, (Transcript of the Handed Down Judgment of, Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street, Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -, Mr C Mackay, QC and Mr Neil Block (instructed by Myers Fletcher & Gordon) appeared on behalf of the Respondent/Claimant.
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