Description
Architects owed a duty of care to occupiers of premises in respect of latent defects in a gutter drainage system despite a previous flood having occurred as a result of the same defect. The decision in Baxall & Norbain v Sheard & Ors [2002] BLR 100 is authority for one or other of the following principles: (a) where it is reasonable to expect that an occupier will inspect a property before entering into occupation, no duty of care will be owed in respect of a defect that such an inspection should disclosed; (b) where an occupier could reasonably have been expected in his own interests to carry out an inspection that would have revealed the defect, failure to carry out such an inspections, or to carry it out with reasonable skill and care, will break the chain of causation. Neither was considered satisfactory by the Court of Appeal.
