City Research Online

Abstract

This paper examines the Post Office Horizon scandal from the perspective of product liability and whether Fujitsu owed a duty of care under English common law to the postmasters who used the system and suffered loss as a result of the faults. It confronts the problem of pure economic loss, which is generally irrecoverable under English law unless it can be accommodated with the narrow Hedley Byrne exception. The paper argues that the current state of the law is not fit for purpose in the light of the technological challenges created by computer software where the boundaries between economic and physical loss are less clear. Nevertheless, it is argued that the pure economic loss issue is not insurmountable and that an argument can be made to the effect that, in certain circumstances, the providers of a computer system owe a duty not to cause economic loss to users, notwithstanding the fact that there is no contract between the parties. As a subsidiary issue the paper looks at the psychiatric harm caused to certain postmasters and how should claims could relate to the economic losses, an area where there is especially scant authority.

Publication Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information:	© 2025, the author.
Publisher Keywords:	Negligence, Product Liability, Pure Economic Loss, Psychiatric Injury, Post Office Horizon Scandal
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory K Law > K Law (General) K Law > KD England and Wales
Departments:	The City Law School The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > CLS Working Paper Series
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads