Key Facts
- •Claimant slipped on a spilt drink at the Defendant's bar.
- •The incident occurred on the ground floor of a busy bar.
- •The Defendant had a system for staff to check for spillages every 10-15 minutes.
- •There was no CCTV footage of the incident.
- •The Claimant suffered a fractured metatarsal.
- •The case was brought in negligence and under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957.
Legal Principles
Occupiers' Liability Act 1957: An occupier owes a common duty of care to take reasonable care to see that a visitor will be reasonably safe.
Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, Section 2(2)
In slip and fall cases, the claimant must establish a prima facie case of negligence, and the defendant can rebut this by showing they took reasonable care.
Dawkins v Carnival Plc [2011] EWCA Civ 1237, Ward v Tesco Stores Limited [1976] 1 WLR 810, Turner v Arding & Hobbs Ltd [1949] 2 All ER 911
Reasonableness depends on balancing likelihood of injury, seriousness of injury, social value of activity, and cost of preventative measures.
Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council [2004] 1 AC 46
Outcomes
Appeal allowed; judgment for the Defendant.
The judge erred by imposing too high a standard of care. The Defendant's system of continuous monitoring, with every area checked at least every 10-15 minutes, was reasonable in the circumstances.