Accidents
Occupiers Liability Act Claims
Accidents on Someone Else’s Land or Premises
If you suffer an accident on land or premises belonging to someone else, then you may be able to claim compensation.
For example, if you are in a restaurant or hotel, enjoying a drink or a meal, and the ceiling collapses causing you injury, then you will be able to claim damages against the restaurant or hotel in respect of your injury.
Similarly, if you were to walk across the car park of the same restaurant or hotel and the bough of a tree fell and struck you on the head, causing injury, again, you would have a claim against the restaurant or hotel.
In the above examples, you would be able to bring a claim under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 as a “visitor”, because you had implied consent to be on the land or premises. Under the 1957 Act, the owner or occupier of land owes a duty to ensure the reasonable safety of visitors.
Even if you do not have consent and have entered the land or premises as a “trespasser”, you may be able to make an Occupiers Liability compensation claim against the owner or occupier of the land or property. Under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984, the occupier of premises owes a duty to someone who is not a visitor (i.e. a trespasser) if he is aware of the danger, or believes that it exists, he knows or believes that the trespasser is either in the vicinity of may come into the vicinity of the danger, and the risk is one where the occupier could reasonably offer protection.
The 1984 was introduced following a number of claims involving children being injured as a result of playing on disused land and premises.
