Chubb Fire Wins Appeal

If Chubb had lost the appeal detailed below the implications for every supplier of fire extinguishers could have been serious: a good day for all.

Court of Appeal: Chubb Fire wins appeal Re £240,000 extinguisher damage
In a landmark case, the Court of Appeal has held that a fire safety company was not responsible for the damage caused by vandals setting off a dry powder extinguisher, causing £240,000 worth of damage to a historic Lincolnshire church.
On Friday 1 September 2006, three teenage boys entered the unlocked and unoccupied medieval church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Spalding. The boys found a dry powder extinguisher in a small kitchen took it into the main part of the church and discharged it along the length of the nave, covering the fabric/furniture of the church and many expensive fittings.
In the original hearing at Nottingham County Court in January 2009, the judge found that Chubb Fire was liable for the damage, as it negligently failed to warn the church about the mess that a discharge would cause.
In a judgement delivered on 20 August, the Court of Appeal reversed the judge’s decision, saying that it even if a warning had been given by Chubb, there was no evidence that the church would have made a definite decision not to install the dry powder extinguisher. The court also held that it was not fair to hold Chubb liable for the deliberate and criminal actions of people over whom it had no responsibility, even if malicious discharge of an extinguisher was in some way foreseeable.
The church's insurers, Ecclesiastical Insurance, had brought the original claim in the name of the church.
Have a good day.