A case involving an important point of law in a dispute over the ownership of the land on which the claimant’s accident occurred. The claimant was injured in a hole created by the removal of a fence post located at the boundary of the highway and a carpark to the front of a public house which was under renovation.
The claimant bought claims against Council, the owner of the land who denied the hole was on their land, and the contractor carrying out renovation works who denied removing the post and creating the hole. The Council denied the hole was located on the highway, but also pleaded a statutory defence on the basis they were not on notice of the hole if it was found to be on the highway and whoever had removed the post and created the hole had done so negligently and without permission.
The claim was discontinued against our local authority client. The case has implications for disputes over the ownership/responsibility of land bordering the highway and the claim was important to our client specifically and local authorities more generally. It demonstrates the importance of fighting low value claims when there is an important legal principle at stake.