Ignorance (Of Senior Managers) Is Not Always Bliss

In a judgment harking back to the principles in Donoghue v Stevenson, the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court's decision that the manufacturer of a defective product installed to prevent fire was not liable for a fire which destroyed a factory.

The rationale was that employees of the factory were in fact aware of the malfunction and had therefore introduced an alternative system to avoid fire, rather than rely on the faulty device. This knowledge was attributed to the owners of the factory.

The Facts

The Appellant, Howmet, manufactured precision components for the aerospace industry. Part of its manufacturing process included dipping metal castings into a series of tanks containing hot acid and water known as a grain etch line ("GEL"). The tanks in the GEL included various "thermolevel" sensors which were designed to measure both the temperature and level of liquid in the tanks, and to switch off the heater if the liquid fell below a specified level in