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A nuisance claim may not always fly, but negligence could still offer a remedy, as Andrew Ross explains
- The Court of Appeal has rejected a nuisance claim because falcon breeding was not a common and ordinary use of the land, but upheld a finding of negligence.
- Claimants affected by neighbouring land use should consider pleading negligence alongside private nuisance where harm is foreseeable and avoidable.
A recent Court of Appeal decision concerning a dispute between the owners of a falcon breeding business and a neighbour who used his land for a scaffolding business and other activities has left claimants needing to consider whether, when making a claim in private nuisance, they should also claim in negligence (Thomas and another company v Nicholas and others [2026] EWCA Civ 847).
The background
Martin and Scott Nicholas who ran a falconry breeding business, Raptors of Penwith, brought a successful claim at first instance against Mr Barnes Thomas, alleging that the way he had run his scaffolding business and carried
