Cambridge Water Co v Eastern Counties Leather PLC [1994]

Concerning: non-natural use, foreseeability of damage

Facts

The defendant company was a leather manufacturer which used chemical solvents in the tanning process. These chemicals were stored in drums on the defendant's premises. Following the new European regulations, tests were carried out on the claimant's water and it was found to be polluted by the chemicals from the tannery as spillages had leaked into the water. At first instance, the claim based on Rylands v Flether was dismissed on the basis that there was not a non-natural use of land due to the amount of time that the tannery had been in operation and the industrial area in which it was located. The…