1) A tort is ‘a wrongful act against an individual which gives rise to a civil claim’.
2) Negligence, in order to successfully claim damages for a tort the claimant must prove on a balance of probabilities three things:
- Duty of care is owed to the claimant
- There has been a breach of that duty of care
- The breach of duty caused the harm to the claimant
3) In addition to negligence another specific type of tort is an action for ‘passing-off’. In such cases one party is accused of misrepresenting themselves to the public in a calculated manner designed to allow them to benefit from the other party’s goodwill These actions are most commonly associated with trademarks and company names per Stringfellow v McCain and HFC Bank v Midland Bank.
4) Where it can be proved in passing-off cases that there is a chance of ‘genuine public confusion’ all lost trading profits can be awarded in addition to an injunction over the use of names.
Definition Of Tort
