Nettleship v. Weston

In the eyes of the law, it doesn’t care whether you’ve tried your best or not.

Such is the verdict established by this English Court of Appeal judgment dealing with the breach of duty in negligence claims. The case is about a driver who was learning to drive and in doing so, caused a car accident. Spoiler alert, she was found guilty.

The essential part of the case that led to the verdict is this:

“The learner-driver may be doing her best, but her incompetent best is not good enough.”

In other words, a person’s ineptitude does not exempt the person from being held at a different standard.

Often, whenever we flunk and did not get the results that we’re expecting, our mutuals will come to our side and comfort us with nearly the same, identical cliché line:

“It’s okay. I’m sure you’ve tried your best.”

In reality, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve tried your absolute best or not. The hard pill to swallow is that;

Sometimes, your incompetent best is not good enough. In fact, even your competent best can never be good enough.