The floodgates principle, or the floodgates argument, is a legal principle which is sometimes applied by judges to restrict or limit the right to make claims for damages because of a concern that permitting a claimant to recover in such situations might open the metaphorical “floodgates” to large numbers of claims and …
What does it mean when they say open the floodgates?
Definition of open the floodgates : to remove something serving to restrain an outburst Many people fear that the court’s latest ruling will open the floodgates for/to a host of new lawsuits.
How do floodgates work?
Floodgates are built at the end of storm sewers. During high water, floodgates prevent river water from backing through the sewer into the cities.
What’s another word for floodgate?
In this page you can discover 12 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for floodgate, like: sluice, conduit, spout, gate, sluicegate, sluice valve, penstock, head gate, water-gate, flood-gate and sluice-gate.
What does flooding the courts mean?
a term referring to the metaphor of the floodgates of litigation, the notion that there is potentially an ocean of potential litigants with potential claims who would, if the floodgates were opened, engulf the courts and inundate the courts of justice.
What is the test for a duty of care to be owed to a primary victim?
The test for legal causation requires the claimant to prove that the type of injury suffered by the claimant was a reasonably foreseeable result of the defendant’s breach of duty of care. The harm suffered by the claimant must not be too remote a consequence of the defendant’s negligence.
How do you use floodgate in a sentence?
1. Political changes in eastern Europe opened the floodgates to thousands of people who wished to emigrate. 2. His display of kindness to her opened the floodgates again, and she began to sob loudly.
Is floodgates one word or two?
floodgate. 2. (often plural) a control or barrier against an outpouring or flow: to open the floodgates to immigration.
Which country has Floods?
One of the most flood and climate change affected countries in the world. Bangladesh is one of the most flood prone countries in the world. Floods have huge costs for Bangladesh, both in terms of lives, property, livelihoods, and development gains lost.
Which of the following is a synonym for the word conduit?
In this page you can discover 30 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for conduit, like: channel, natural passage, cable, passage, plug, clearing-house, aqueduct, flume, tube, sewer and conduct.
Do Neighbours owe each other a duty of care?
Proximity in its simplest sense is physical, so neighbours owe each other duties of care by virtue of their physical proximity. Legal proximity may be physical in this sense.
What does floodgates mean in legal terms?
a term referring to the metaphor of the floodgates of litigation, the notion that there is potentially an ocean of potential litigants with potential claims who would, if the floodgates were opened, engulf the courts and inundate the courts of justice.
Why are floodgates used in dams?
Important safety features of many types of dams, floodgates and spillways direct excess water away from the dam and its foundation to prevent erosion that could lead to catastrophic dam failure. Several forms of gates have been developed.
What is the history of the floodgates principle?
Nervous shock cases. In English law the first recorded reference to the floodgates principle was in 1888 in Victorian Railway Commissioners v Coultas That case involved a pregnant woman (the claimant) whose husband had driven onto train tracks at a level crossing, and due to the negligence of the gate keeper,…
What is the floodgates argument in tort?
Most of the situations in which the courts have employed the floodgates argument have revolved around liability in tort, and in particular in relation to the liability for nervous shock or for pure economic loss. The rationale in which the floodgates principle has been applied may vary.