The Blame Game
Anyone who watches television or listens to commercial radio has heard at least one advert for a personal injury lawyer, urging you to consider whether you have had an accident in the last 3 years that wasn’t your fault. What they generally fail to mention is that the accident must have been someone else’s fault for a claim to be made.
The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Glaister and others v. Appleby-in-Westmorland Town Council [2009] EWCA Civ 1325 will come as a relief to anyone who allows public fairs to take place on privately-owned land. It might also serve as a warning to fairgoers who get too close to horses.
As the Court noted, with Lord Justice Toulson giving the leading judgment, “The Appleby Horse Fair is an event which has been held for several centuries and probably since the middle ages.” It certainly attracts a great number of visitors, including tourists and travellers.
Mr Glaister, the first Claimant, spotted an un-tethered horse, which had broken free. No-one knew who the horse belonged to. Fearing for his family’s safety, he tried to take hold of the horse’s tether. The horse turned and delivered a kick to Mr Glaister’s head, seriously injuring him.
Mr Glaister sued the Town Council, which was in fact only one of the organisations involved with the fair. The fair was run by a committee, chaired by one of the Town Council. The primary site of the fair was on Council land, but the fair was by no means confined to this area.
The trial Judge found the Council liable, in this case for failing to take reasonable steps to provide appropriate public liability insurance. The Council appealed.
The Court of Appeal accepted the Council’s arguments that, even if ‘appropriate insurance’ had been taken out, the policy conditions would almost certainly have imposed a duty on the Council that was greater than any duty they had owed to Mr Glaister at the time of the accident.
A second factor in the Council’s submissions to the Court was that they were not the only body exercising control over different areas of the Horse Fair at the time of the accident. None of the other bodies involved, including those who had been represented on the Fair Committee, had been named in the claim or added as Defendants to the proceedings. The Council submitted that the trial Judge had failed to identify which of the various bodies would have been legally liable to Mr Glaister.
The Court allowed the Council’s appeal. The Judges accepted that the Council did not owe Mr Glaister a duty, either to ensure that public liability insurance was in place or to ensure segregation and supervision of tethered horses. No blame for Mr Glaister’s injury, tragic though it was, could attach to the Council.
It is worth considering how this situation might have differed if the owner of the horse had been identified, or if the accident had occurred on land solely owned or controlled by a single party. Certainly, an occupier of premises owes a duty of care to lawful visitors. Alternatively, the owner of an animal is liable for the damage is causes if it exhibited uncharacteristic behaviour generally or was likely to do so in the particular circumstances of this case and that likelihood was known to the owner.
At any event attended by large numbers of people, it is of course advisable for all owners of animals to use all reasonable steps to keep them under control. Anyone who regularly attends such events would be well-advised to carry appropriate insurance in the event of an injury being caused by one of their animals.
For more information please contact Edward Holmes at Thomas Guise Solicitors on 01905 723131 or by email to edward.holmes@thomasguise.co.uk