White v Jones

White v Jones [1995] UKHL 5 is a leading English tort law case concerning professional negligence and the conditions under which a person will be taken to have assumed responsibility for the welfare of another.

Two daughters of the deceased Mr Barratt (one of them married a man named White) sued Mr Jones for failing to follow their father's instructions when drawing up his will.

Mr Barratt and his daughters had fallen out briefly and he asked the solicitor to cut them out of the will.

Influenced by the idea that solicitors may escape the consequences of not doing their job properly, he said that a special relationship existed between the daughters and the solicitor and that Mr Jones had assumed responsibility towards them.

Therefore, the Caparo test was satisfied as the loss was foreseeable.