Abrahart, a 20-year-old physics student, took her own life in 2018 on the morning of a laboratory conference. She was suffering from depression and social anxiety disorder at the time, which amount to a disability under the Equality Act 2010 and which affected her ability to participate in oral assessments such as the laboratory conference.
The university appealed against a county court ruling that it breached the 2010 Act.
However, Mr Justice Linden dismissed the appeal this week, in University of Bristol v Dr Robert Abrahart [2024] EWHC 299 (KB). Linden J declined to go further and determine whether the university owed Abrahart a duty of care under the law of negligence as ‘the issue is one of potentially wide application and significance. Determining it would increase the risk of prolonging this litigation, which I regard as undesirable.’
Shannett Thompson, partner at Kingsley Napley, said: ‘In this case, the mitigation pleaded by the University of Bristol about the adjustments it made were considered insufficient.
‘Hitherto the relationship between a university and its student has been viewed as a contractual one, with no general duty of care owed. So [this] decision is a gamechanger in that respect. There is also a campaign for universities to have a statutory duty of care to students, but if and until that is enacted, this case opens the door for others to argue about a university's obligations. For example, that could potentially extend to the manner in which it conducts investigations and the safeguarding of participants involved.
‘This case should be a wake-up call for other universities to review their policies and procedures, ensuring they are robust and effective, especially where students have known mental health issues.’
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