Rylands v Fletcher cases

• Rylands v Fletcher case:

  • The defendant made a reservoir as a water supply for his mill
  • Mineshafts were not blocked off, causing flooding to a mine
  • Legal principle: a claim could be made if material brought onto the land and stored was likely to cause mischief if it escapes, amounting to a non-natural use of land
• Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council case:

  • A water leak left a gas main exposed, requiring remedial work
  • The claimant sought to recover the cost of the work
  • The claim in Rylands v Fletcher is a special form of nuisance when the use of land is extraordinary and unusual
• Hale v Jennings case:

  • A claim was made when a chair-o-plane seat fell through a shed on neighbouring land
  • Legal principle: the thing must cause mischief if it escapes
• Stannard (Wyvern) v Gore case:

  • A fire occurred in the defendant’s tyre fitting premise which spread to the claimant’s property
  • Legal principle: it must be the “thing” that escapes, not the fire caused by the “thing” setting alight
• Rickards v Lothian case:

  • An unknown person turned on water taps and blocked plugholes, causing damage to the flat below
  • Legal principle: there has to be a non-natural use of the land – not present in this case as domestic pipes were a natural use of land
• Read v Lyons case:

  • An explosion took place in a munitions factory, causing injury
  • Legal principle: the material has to escape from one property onto adjoining property- no liability here as there was no escape
• Cambridge Water Co v Eastern Counties Leather case:

  • Stored chemicals seeped through the concrete floor of a factory into the soil below, polluting an area where water was extracted
  • Legal principle: damage has to be reasonably foreseeable and not too remote from the escape
• British Celanese case:

  • Strips of metal stored at the factory blew onto an electricity substation causing a power outage
  • Legal principle: the use of land by the defendants was a natural use because of the public benefit
• Nichols v Marsland case:

  • Freak thunderstorms and torrential rain broke the banks of artificial lakes which damaged bridges on the claimant's land
  • Legal principle: act of God can only be used when the weather is so extreme that no human could provide against
• Perry v Kendricks case:

  • The defendant's bus was parked with no fuel in the tank. A stranger put a light match into the tank, and another was injured by the explosion
  • Legal principle: act of a stranger- a stranger has to be someone whom the defendant has no control over