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Posted By Kirsty Davies2
Before you set off!
If a student slips, fells and suffers injury at College ground, would the college be liable for losses suffered by the student. (Student was walking on a concrete ground which was wet due to rain).
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Posted By Scotty
Hi Kirsty.
There are still a few of us around at this time on a Friday!
Some general thoughts are:
Could the college have made the area less slippy? Had it been recognised as an issue previously? What was the area constructed of?
Were there contributing factors to the incident that exacerbated matters ie leaves, moss, damaged surface etc on the area where the student fell?
What footwear was the student wearing? What were they doing at the time - running, carrying anything which may have reduced their field of vision etc.
All of these areas (and more) would be looked at as part of the investigation. If the college has contributed to the incident in some way, then they may be held liable.
Hope these somewhat rambling thoughts (it is Friday) help.
Cheers,
Scotty.
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Posted By Neil R
Possibly, it would depend on the result of an investigation. Was the walkway properly maintained? Should an anti-slip coating have been applied? had there been any other slips or trips on the same patch, had the been any control measures implemented from that?
In defence i'd be looking at the footwear the student was wearing? was it suitable for the conditions? what was the student doing running walking messing around etc?
In todays blame and claim culture there'll probably be a settlement offered anyway regardless but you can do a full investigation and see if theres any info you could use as defence.
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Posted By Scotty
Oops. Sorry - I forgot about the bit in brackets when I was typing. It's answered some of the points I raised (blush)
Scotty.
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Posted By Raymond Rapp
Kirsty
Whilst i do not disagree with the previous postings I would say that unless there is a breach of statutory duty, on the prima facie evidence there is little chance of proving any form of negligence by the college. People slip, fall and trip all the time and for various reasons.
To prove a case of negligence the following must apply:
1) where there is reasonable foreseeability of loss or damage to a party caused
by the act or omission of another;
(2) where there is a close and direct relationship between the parties (legal
proximity); and
(3) where it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care (the public policy
criterion) upon the party that has caused reasonably foreseeable loss or damage to
the other party.
For the criterion above, the case needs to be very robust. Of course, some organisations are prepared to settle out of court for lesser reasons.
Ray
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Posted By Neil D
As someone in the past who has been a witness in Liability claims against Local Authorities for footpath defects. I have never come across anyone being successful in a slip on wet concrete due to it being wet.
What the claimant will more than likely try and find is some sort of defect on that surface, a raised flag or pothole which was hidden by rainwater maybe. If this happens, if there is an inspection regime in place that has documented evidence that the ground was ok it will probably fail. If there is no regime, then you have to weigh up if a judge accepts that it was just a fall or that the concrete surface contributed.
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