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Negligence Case Of French V Qbe Insurance

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Negligence occurs when a citizen has suffered loss due to the carelessness of another. The first element of a negligence case is to find if the duty of care, the obligation of an individual to hold responsibility while performing any acts affecting others, is breached (Negligence and the Duty of Care, 2013). The Supreme Court of Queensland’s decision in May 2011, during the trial of French v QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited [2011] QSC 105 demonstrates how a taxi driver breached his duty of care and therefore, would be liable for the death of his passenger (Hamilton, 2011). Stephen Crouch attended a Saturday evening barbecue for about four hours and after becoming heavily intoxicated, was manipulated into a taxi (French vs QBE, 2012). The taxi driver, named Mr Earea, received instructions to ‘deliver him safely home’ to what he believed he was told was 27 Yangoora Crescent rather than number 37 where he resided (Cooper, 2011). After addressing the female occupant of 27 Yangoora Crescent who claimed she had no idea who the unconsciousness Crouch was, the driver called his base asking for police assistance. After a short period of time and no sign of police, he opened the back door of the cab and Crouch fell onto the footpath (Cooper, 2011). The taxi driver drove off, leaving the unconsciousness Crouch lying in the rain (Gray, 2011). After the taxi left, Crouch awoke and started wandering around the locality until he was run over first by an unidentified vehicle and

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