Clearing the snow from your path ,being sued .

[Dave650]

Right now's a bad time to do it, People have left big piles of snow at either end of their drives which melts in the day and forms black ice agross the pavement at night/morning. Almost broke my neck on a neighbours yesterday.

[Bigtpop]

When I was a kid everyone cleared the path outside their house when it snowed. And would clear it for a neighbour too if they needed help. It's just what people did. At least it's what they did round our way.

So why don't people clear the snow these days?

'If you clear the snow from a path and someone slips, then they can sue you. If you don't clear the snow then the council are liable, not you.' That's what a middle-aged man, with his Daily Mail neatly tucked under his arm, told me, as I cleared the snow from outside my house this lunchtime. What rubbish. It made me angry. So very, very angry. I was so angry I beat him to death with my shovel. The warmth from his severed intestines and freshly-spilt blood was a great help with melting the remaining ice. I then ground his bones into a fine powder to use as a substitute for salt.

Sensationalist claims by the media make me cross.

If you slip and fall outside my house on the cleared path you are welcome to sue me.

Just try it.

James

 

bigtop-design.co.uk/blog

[EmilyM]

We have cleared a big patch of the path in front of our house so we could get the cars on/off the driveway. We also put lots of grit down.

[Vague_Boy]

my wife and I have just been clearing the snow from the front of our house and a neighbour came out and said "if anybody slips there now they can sue you ", whats the world coming to ?

 

That's what you get when your government (and some of their spouses) are spiv shyster lawyers. A litigators paradise.

 

Having said that, I could do with a financial pick-me-up after Christmas, so if there's anyone out there with a cleared path and plenty of money in the bank....

[fierysatsuma]

I'm a bit confused - if we are talking about purely your own property, then how can the council be liable if you don't clear it? I thought the OP was talking about if you clear the council owned pavement outside your house?

 

The Council (or any other housing association in respect of rented accommodation) are the owner and 'occupier' of the property and thus owe a duty of care to the tenant. However, anyone with reasonable control over the property could be an 'occupier'.

 

I defend many housing associations and defend many claims for injury intimated by local council/housing association tenants - tripping on damaged driveway/garden path, broken shower falling on head etc etc (also Defective Premises Act and Landlord and Tenant Act).

 

Outside of the 'home' a claim against the local authority would most likely be be brought about under the Highways Act - unless like in a lot of cases nowadays a housing association has taken over/bought the properties then they 'own' certain parts of the highway and claims can still be brought under the OLA. However, with right of ways/public footpaths, claims can be 'bounced' back to the local authority under a Ruling in the leading case of Gulliksen due to their long uninterrupted use.

 

Like Moosey said, its all down to "reasonableness" and "foreseeability" A successful claim will only be so where a duty of care is owed, that duty is breached (common law) and the injury is foreseeable.

 

You also have to understand that not many claims actually get to Court. In fact probably far less than 1%. and yes, insurance companies do weigh up the 'litigation risks' and are happy to deal direct with unrepresented Claimant's - to save on solicitors costs and medical experts fees. A simple injury claim, say, soft tissue injury worth in the region of £2k to £3k can easily generate claimant's costs and disbursements in excess of £10k. However, we don't roll over and pay anyone and anything.

[Moosey]

Like Moosey said, its all down to "reasonableness" and "foreseeability" A successful claim will only be so where a duty of care is owed, that duty is breached (common law) and the injury is foreseeable.

 

You also have to understand that not many claims actually get to Court. In fact probably far less than 1%. and yes, insurance companies do weigh up the 'litigation risks' and are happy to deal direct with unrepresented Claimant's - to save on solicitors costs and medical experts fees. A simple injury claim, say, soft tissue injury worth in the region of £2k to £3k can easily generate claimant's costs and disbursements in excess of £10k. However, we don't roll over and pay anyone and anything.

 

Ooh are you one of my opponents!?

[fierysatsuma]

Ooh are you one of my opponents!?

 

Could be... are you fairly local? I have only recently turned (back) to the 'dark side' from a 10 year Claimant career.

[chimay]

In Germany and Scandinavian countries people have a legal duty to clear snow from outside their houses. Maybe there should be a unilateral EU law on whether to clear or not to clear snow outside our properties.

[Moosey]

Could be... are you fairly local? I have only recently turned (back) to the 'dark side' from a 10 year Claimant career.

 

Sheffield, and Claimant through and through, for the last 15 years nearly.

[Masai]

A good bit on Beeb here:

Go the BBC site and search for:

Is it your civic duty to clear snow?

 

It seems that you can actually do the right thing in spite of the no win no fee parasites.