This ppt refers to Famous Cases on Tort Law. It was prepared for a Legal English lesson by Dra. Daniela Zabala. San Luis, Argentina.

1. TORT LAW
Famous Cases
Daniela Zabala-
Seminario de Ingles Jurídico 2020
Universidad Católica de Cuyo sede San Luis.

2. The “McLibel” case
A famous case in English Law
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3. The “McLibel Case”
The claimant in the case was
McDonald’s, the chain of fast food
restaurants and the defendants were
Helen Steel and David Morris who
belonged to a group of people who
were worried about the environment.
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4. The “McLibel Case”
The facts of the case:
Helen and David decided to give
leaflets containing information
about McDonald’s, they stood
outside several McDonald’s
restaurants in London. They gave
leaflets to people who were in the
area. The problem was that the
leaflets contained some
controversial claims.
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5. The “McLibel Case”
In 1990 McDonald’s issued a claim against
Helen and David on the grounds of libel.
The libel trial started in 1994. Helen and David
were found to be guilty of libel.
In 1999 Helen and David appealed, but again
they were ordered to pay damages to
McDonald’s.
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6. The “McLibel Case”
They decided to appeal to European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg.
The court decided that the English courts followed the
correct procedure, but that, nevertheless, the trial in
England was unfair.
This was mainly because Helen and David were poor
compared to a big corporation such as McDonald’s,
which meant that they couldn’t pay for an expensive
legal team and their defense was not so well
prepared.
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7. The “McLibel Case”
The court also ruled that Helen and David’s right to
free expression was violated.
The court awarded Helen and David damages of
nearly £ 47,000.
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8. The Donoghue v Stevenson case
The most famous tort case
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9. The Donoghue v Stevenson case
The facts of the case:
On 26 August 1928, Mrs Donaghue met a friend at a
café. Her friend ordered and paid for a pear, an ice
cream and a bottle of ginger beer. This beer was
manufactured by Mr David Stevenson.
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10. The Donoghue v Stevenson case
The facts of the case:
The café proprietor poured part of the ginger beer onto
Mrs Donoghue’s ice cream to make what is known as
“an ice cream float”. When Mrs Donoghue’s friend was
pouring the rest of the content of the bottle into a glass,
she saw floating out of the bottle what it seemed to be
the partly decomposed remains of a snail.
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11. The Donoghue v Stevenson case
Mrs Donoghue claimed she had made ill by what she
had seen. Certainly, she had medical treatment from her
doctor a few days later for gastro-enteritis and again
three weeks later. She also claimed that she had
suffered from “nervous shock”.
The basis of the claim against Stevenson, was that any
manufacturer of a product intended for human
consumption must be liable to the consumer for any
damage resulting from a lack of reasonable care to
ensure that the product is fit ti consumption.
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12. The Donoghue v Stevenson case
The case proceeded through various appeals
to the highest court in the land, the House of
Lords.
The Lords decided in favor of Mrs Donoghue
and so it happened that a new precedent was
established and became the reason why these
days millions of pounds and dollars have been
won by claimants based on the tort of
negligence.
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13. The Hot Coffee case3
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14. The Hot Coffee case
Case Notes
◦ Law students often read or write case notes to prepare for
classroom discussions at university. A “case note” is a short
summary of the most important information about a case.
◦ Let’s match
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Reasoning 1 What the court decided a
Ruling 2 Information about the parties and the case b
Legal issue 3 What happened c
Procedural history 4 Why the court came to that decision d
Facts of the case 5 How the lower and upper court decided e
Case 6 Relevant point of law. f

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Let’s watch a video

16. The Hot Coffee case
Making a case note
◦ Name of the case
◦ Facts of the case
◦ Procedural History
◦ Legal Issue
◦ Ruling
◦ Reasoning
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17. Thanks!
Any questions?
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Sources: Mason Catherine. “The Lawyers English Language Coursebook”,
Second Edition, Global Legal English LTD, 2014, England.