## Facts

- William Smith worked for Leech Brain & Co. Ltd. as a galvaniser operating a crane near a tank of molten zinc.
- The employer provided a low wall and a corrugated iron sheet as a shield, but the work required the operator to turn or lean out to see hand signals from a co-worker directing the crane.
- Smith leaned or turned beyond the shield and a splash of molten metal burned his lip.
- The burn failed to heal, ulcerated, and later became cancerous; Smith had a pre-existing pre-cancerous condition in the lip tissue.
- Medical evidence attributed the cancer to the burn acting as a “promoting agent,” and Smith died after the cancer spread.
- Smith’s widow sued under the Fatal Accidents Act; the employer’s negligence in allowing the burn was accepted, leaving remoteness as the central dispute.

## Issues

1. Whether, after negligently causing a foreseeable burn injury, the defendant was liable for cancer and death that occurred because the claimant had a pre-existing susceptibility.
2. Whether foreseeability for remoteness in personal injury turns on the kind of harm (burn/personal injury) rather than the extent or precise medical outcome (cancer/death).

## Decision

- The Queen’s Bench Division held the employer liable for the full consequences of the negligent burn, including cancer and death.
- It was sufficient that a burn (a personal injury of the relevant kind) was a foreseeable result of the negligent system of work.
- The defendant could not limit liability by pointing to the claimant’s unusual pre-cancerous condition.

## Legal Principles

- For remoteness in personal injury, the defendant must foresee the kind or class of harm (e.g., physical injury), not the extent of harm or the claimant’s particular medical progression.
- Under the eggshell skull (take-the-victim-as-found) rule, once foreseeable personal injury is caused, the defendant is responsible for the damage as it in fact occurs, even if it is made worse by a pre-existing condition.
- Foreseeability analysis does not displace the eggshell skull rule where the initial personal injury is within the foreseeable class of harm.

## Conclusion

Because a burn injury was a foreseeable consequence of the employer’s negligence and the burn factually triggered the cancer in a susceptible worker, the employer was liable for the resulting death notwithstanding that cancer and death were not themselves foreseeable outcomes.


Smith v. Leech Brain & Co. Ltd., [1962] 2 Q.B. 405 (Q.B.D.)