[3] However, Donoghue had no contractual relationship with Minghella as she had not purchased the ginger beer; while her friend did have a contract through having placed the order, she had not suffered any injury. [citation needed], On the evening of Sunday 26 August 1928, during the Glasgow Trades Holiday, May Donoghue took a train to Paisley, Renfrewshire. It is obvious that, if such responsibility attached to the defenders, they might be called on to meet claims of damages which they could not possibly investigate or insure. It is important to first illustrate how the common law doctrine of stare decisis works. [5]:34 (Her legal team had agreed to work pro bono. "[5]:170–171, This allegation, suggests Chapman, established itself as a legal myth;[5]:172 it was repeated by Lord Justice Jenkins in a 1954 Court of Appeal practice note. RATIO DECIDENDI AND OBITER DICTUM [5]:102 In Thomas, Thomas had purchased and administered belladonna to his wife after it was mislabelled by Winchester, the dealer, although not the seller, of the treatment as extract of dandelion. [49] As Donoghue's factual claims were therefore never tested in court, it is generally held that what happened in the Wellmeadow Café is not proven and will not be known for certain.[1]:2[3][4]:643[5]:172. [5]:5–6[24]:7 She died of a heart attack on 19 March 1958, at the age of 59, in Gartloch Mental Hospital, where she had probably been staying for a short period of time as a result of mental illness. Belton responded as an acknowledge receipt and packed twenty Fryers into its delivery truck for Palm Tree. [3][6]:566, The ginger beer had been manufactured by David Stevenson, who ran a company producing both ginger beer and lemonade at 11 and 12 Glen Lane, Paisley, less than a mile away from the Wellmeadow Café. For example in the case of Donughue v Stevenson (1932) AC 562. [5]:22–23[8]:8, Injuries resulting from defective products were normally claimed on the basis of a contract of sale between the seller and the consumer. [5]:4 The owner of the café, Francis Minghella,[Note 3] brought over a tumbler of ice cream and poured ginger beer on it from a brown and opaque bottle labelled "D. Stevenson, Glen Lane, Paisley". [5]:104–106[30]:414, "If the nature of a thing is such that it is reasonably certain to place life and limb in peril when negligently made, it is then a thing of danger. 8  Pages. As per above case, Palm Tree did not attempt to introduce new terms into the contract and it was a mere request for information not a counter-offer. Despite the ruling in Mullen, Leechman issued a writ on Donoghue's behalf against Stevenson on 9 April 1929. [5]:29–30, Donoghue filed a petition to appeal to the House of Lords on 25 February 1931. 5  Pages. Moreover, neither had a contract with Stevenson, the manufacturer. The liability for negligence, whether you style it such or treat it as in other systems as a species of "culpa," is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral wrongdoing for which the offender must pay.