Abstract/Summary

In two recent cases, the courts have had to grapple with liability issues arising from the spread of Japanese Knotweed, a pernicious weed which is said to cause structural damage. One of those cases, Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams, was heard by the UK Court of Appeal where the arguments focused on the applicability of the tort of nuisance. The claimants were principally concerned about the property blight caused by the spread of the weed from a railway embankment onto their land. The litigation raises some important doctrinal points on the recoverability of economic loss in private nuisance. On a wider level, it also sheds light on how environmental harms can be framed as private financial losses which engage remedies in tort.