A & Ors v National Blood Authority & Ors

Michael Brooke QC, Stuart Brown QC, Ian Forrester QC (Scotland) and Jalil Asif (instructed by Deas Mallen for the Claimants on generic issues, and instructed by Deas Mallen, DMH, Evill & Coleman, Freeth Cartwright, and Howard Cohen & Co on lead cases) Nicholas Underhill QC, Philip Brook Smith and Louise Merrett (instructed by Davies Arnold Cooper for the Defendants)

[2] Whereas liability without fault on the part of the producer is the sole means of adequately solving the problem, peculiar to our age of increasing technicality, of a fair apportionment of the risks inherent in modern technological production;

[3] Whereas liability without fault should apply only to movables which have been industrially produced; whereas, as a result, it is appropriate to exclude liability for agricultural products and game, except where they have undergone a processing of an industrial nature which could cause a defect in these products ..

[6] Whereas, to protect the physical well-being and property of the consumer, the defectiveness of the product should be determined by reference not to its fitness for use but to the lack of the safety which the public at large is entitled to expect; whereas the safety is assessed by excluding any misuse of the product not reasonable under the circumstances;

[7] Whereas a fair apportionment of risk between the injured person and the producer implies that the producer should be able to free himself from liability if he furnishes proof as to the existence of certain exonerating circumstances;