Landmark Negligence Cases That Changed Personal Injury Law

6 November 2025

Toby Patrick

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Personal injury law is vital for those who have suffered from negligence or a lack of care with their injury and therefore seek compensation. Over time, several landmark cases have completely transformed personal injury law. Below, we look at some of the key cases that have shaped modern legal principles and how they continue to impact lives today.

Classical building with ornate columns and statues under a cloudy sky. Weathered stone and detailed sculptures convey a historic feel.

Palsgraf vs Long Island Railroad Co. (1928)

One of the oldest and most famous cases in personal injury law is the claim of Helen Palsgraf against Long Island Railroad Co. In this case, Helen was injured when a package containing fireworks exploded on the railroad tracks. The explosion occurred as railway employees were assisting a man boarding a train.

Helen Palsgraf sued for her injuries, which led to a major debate over liability. The court ultimately ruled that the railroad company was not liable, as the harm was not foreseeable. This decision introduced the concept of foreseeability into the doctrine of negligence, emphasising that liability depends on whether harm is a reasonably predictable consequence of the defendant’s actions.

Donoghue vs Stevenson (1932)

Another landmark case from the early 1930s, this one transformed personal injury law across the world. May Donoghue became ill after drinking a bottle of ginger beer that contained a decomposed snail. Although her friend purchased the drink, Donoghue sued the manufacturer, Stevenson, for damages.

The court concluded that Stevenson had a duty of care to ensure the safety of their products, even without direct contact between the manufacturer and consumer. This case established the modern principle of negligence and influenced similar legal doctrines internationally.

Baker v. City of St. Louis (1967)

In this case, Baker sued the City of St. Louis after being injured while attempting to board a bus. He argued that the city failed to ensure proper maintenance of its buses and adequate training of drivers. The city claimed sovereign immunity, meaning it could not be sued.

However, the court ruled that the city could be held liable under the doctrine of negligence. This case reshaped the modern understanding of government liability, ensuring that cities cannot rely on sovereign immunity when negligence or personal injury is involved.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Although best known as a landmark decision in reproductive rights, Roe v. Wade also had implications for personal injury and medical law. Jane Roe challenged Texas laws that prohibited abortion, arguing for her right to privacy.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy extended to a woman’s decision to have an abortion. While primarily focused on bodily autonomy, the case reinforced the importance of medical rights and personal safety, principles closely related to personal injury and negligence law.

Berg v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (1978)

In this case, Berg sought compensation from Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company under his insurance policy. The dispute centred on how the company interpreted policy coverage. The court ruled that insurance companies cannot deny coverage to victims based on technicalities or unclear wording, describing such behaviour as professional negligence.

This case transformed the way insurance contracts are written, reinforcing the need for fairness and transparency between insurers and policyholders.

McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case: Liebeck v. McDonald’s (1994)

Perhaps the most famous personal injury case of all time, this lawsuit involved Stella Liebeck, who suffered third-degree burns after spilling hot coffee purchased from McDonald’s. She was hospitalised and incurred serious medical expenses.

The jury found that McDonald’s had acted with gross negligence by serving coffee at a dangerously high temperature. The case sent shockwaves through the legal and corporate world, leading to stronger consumer protection laws and the introduction of visible safety warnings on hot beverage containers.

It also sparked global debate about corporate responsibility, personal accountability and public perception of compensation claims.

Summary

Personal injury law continues to evolve through court decisions that balance fairness, duty of care and responsibility. From the snail in the bottle to the coffee cup warning, each case has shaped how we understand negligence and justice in everyday life.

While not every claim succeeds, these landmark rulings have transformed the modern legal landscape, ensuring that individuals and institutions are held accountable for the safety and well-being of others.

Current Most Read

Set aside time to worry

Diane Hall
Sep 18, 2024
4 min read

According to Paul Young, co-owner of Spiffy, The Happiness Shop, we should build time into our busy schedules to worry.

Woman stressing about all the incoming tasks

This may sound a strange thing to do; however, unnecessary worrying affects many people, and it can have a detrimental effect on their lives.

Human beings, in their caveman days, worried only about where their next meal was coming from, and ensuring they were not on the menu of hungry sabre-toothed tigers on the prowl. The worry as to whether their basic needs would be met was still inherent in Homo Sapiens in 10,000BC, which isn’t that long ago when you consider that they first appeared approximately 288,000 years prior.

In 2022AD, food is plentiful. We also have heat, shelter, clean(ish) air, access to clean water, clothing and the safety to go to sleep at night, etc. Most human beings’ needs on our planet today are easily met.

We don’t often find ourselves in life-threatening situations in the modern world; however, our brains have not adapted to this shift. They may not need to be concerned about sabre-toothed tigers, but that doesn’t mean they switch off. Instead, they create worries and problems for their hosts to solve.

There’s a well-known piece of advice relating to stress: will what you’re fretting over matter in five years’ time? If it’s not significant enough to impact your life in the not-too-distant-future, it’s not worth worrying about in the here and now, experts claim.

I get the premise behind that well-meaning advice, but often, I don’t feel in control of my worry. I suffer from acute anxiety in a number of real-life situations; however, once I’m out of, or away from, these scenarios, my anxiety disappears. Aimless worrying, in comparison, tends to stick around.

Though I don’t sit and worry for hours on end, as a woman of a certain age, I’m not immune to the menopausal hormone drop that occurs between 2am and 4am. Should I wake during this time window, I may as well not bother trying to get back to sleep—and this is when my worrying mind is most active.

In the early hours, I worry about job-related work I’ve to complete the next day, even though I know it will all be in hand when I get going. I worry about the life admin I’ve to sort. I worry about little details that are important and which I’d forgotten, and I worry whether I’ll still remember them when I wake up. I worry about my kids, even though they’re both adults with their own lives. Like everyone, I worry about money and whether I’m spending too much. I worry about things I’ve said, the things I’ve done. I ultimately worry that my worries are preventing me from getting much-needed sleep.

It's exhausting.

Young suggests setting time aside to address your worries rather than letting them pop up whenever they please. When you are able to concentrate on them, he recommends writing down your concerns on a piece of paper, so that you can scrutinise them properly. He believes this will give you some perspective, and seeing them written down may also make it easier to apply logic, which will help you determine the most appropriate solution.

A year long calendar view on a mobile phone

It’s important to remember that there’s only so much of your daily life that’s within your control. You’re not responsible for the emotions/actions of other people or outside influences such as the economy and the weather. Your first task, therefore, it to eliminate any worry about such things—it’s simply a waste of your energy if you can’t do anything about the outcome. What will happen will happen, regardless of any mental anguish you extol.

Young suggests that freelancing individuals can particularly benefit from this approach. As people who tend not to have a regular income, finances may be a particular worry amid the current cost-of-living crisis.

If worries are left to fester, they can affect an individual’s focus, which will have its own detrimental impact on their productivity, which surely makes Young’s suggestions worth a try.

Paula Gardner of the The Good Therapy Practice agrees that freelancers can be more susceptible to worry, which could be, she suggests, a result of remote working. When working from a shared office space or your employer’s business premises, it’s satisfying to physically shut the door on your working day. This sense of closure helps individuals exercise their boundaries, which may be a task more difficult for remote workers, whose home lives and working environments exist in the same space.

Because we don’t have to hunt for our food anymore or switch into survival mode umpteen times a day, we need to give our mind enough to do so that it doesn’t turn rogue and create mountains out of molehills. Read, take up a hobby, practice mindfulness, go for a walk, or just zone out in front of the TV if this is distracting enough for you. Get into a good routine before bedtime to ensure a decent night’s sleep—such as no phones or tablets in the bedroom, a relaxing bath, a milky drink…there are lots of suggestions online in this regard, just find what works for you.

Worrying for worry’s sake is unhealthy and a waste of your time. Put pen to paper and proactively tackle your concerns head on.