Leap of faith

As Mrs Justice Thirlwall DBE stated in a recent case, there is always risk in swimming and diving, in any pool. It is a sad fact that swimming and diving accidents can result in catastrophic injuries.

Doubtless as a consequence of this, the common law case law is peppered with seminal cases arising from swimming or diving accidents—examples include Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council [2003] UKHL 47, [2003] 3 All ER 1122 on occupiers’ liability, Evans v Kosmar Village Holidays [2007] EWCA Civ 1003, [2008] 1 All ER 530 on the duties of a tour operator and Owusu v Jackson [2005] QB 801, [2005] 2 All ER (Comm) 577 on jurisdiction.

This article will examine two recent High Court decisions which follow this trend, in that they arose from such accidents, and in which fundamental principles of liability were considered. Both concerned the confines of the duty of care owed to a pool-user.

Grimes v Hawkins

The case of Grimes v Hawkins