Floodgates principle

The floodgates principle is arguably the antithesis of the legal maxim: fiat justitia ruat caelum ("let justice be done though the heavens fall").

In limiting the right to recover to those who saw the accident or its immediate aftermath Lord Oliver held: It would be inaccurate and hurtful to suggest that grief is made any the less real or deprivation more tolerable by a more gradual realisation, but to extend liability to cover injury in such cases would be to extend the law in a direction for which there is no pressing policy need and in which there is no logical stopping point.As an adjunct to the nervous shock cases, the courts have also had to consider claims by persons who are loosely classified as the "worried well", i.e. persons who are not actually ill, but have suffered an exposure and therefore are greatly concerned they may become gravely ill.

[7] Pure economic loss cases have also felt the strong influence of the concerns of the courts in relation to the floodgates principle.

Unlike physical acts, a negligent statement may be relied upon by a great many people leading to a wide class of potential claims.

The claim was struck out on a number of grounds, one of which was the risk that every victim of crime might have an action against the police arguing that they should have caught the perpetrators at an earlier stage of their criminal careers.

The courts have, on occasion, been prepared to uphold claims notwithstanding that they recognise that the effect of a decision will most likely result in a large amount of subsequent litigation.

In the case of Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC[13] the House of Lords upheld a claim that interest rate swaps entered into with local authorities in the United Kingdom were void although they knew that large numbers of such contracts had been entered into, and that unwinding the swaps would result in a large amount of litigation.

In the event, over 200 separate sets of legal proceedings were launched,[14] several of which were litigated to the Court of Appeal and three of which reached the House of Lords.