Premises and lawful visitors in occupier’s liability claims

Produced in partnership with Andrew Wilson

Practice notes

Premises and lawful visitors in occupier’s liability claims

Produced in partnership with Andrew Wilson

Practice notes

What are ‘premises’?

Although the occupiers' liability Act 1957 (OLA 1957) governs the liability of those in occupation or control of premises, premises are not defined.

It is clear, however, that the term should be interpreted very broadly and includes:

•
any fixed or moveable structure, including any vessel, vehicle or aircraft: this includes both permanent and temporary structures such as scaffolding and ladders. In Furmedge v Chester-Le-Street district council a company which had put in place a large inflatable sculpture was held to be liable when high winds removed it from its moorings
•
land itself (so the owner of a park, field or garden will be caught by OLA 1957)
•
railway lines
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airport runways (Monarch Airlines v London Luton Airport [1998] Lloyd's Rep 403, [1997] CLC 698 (not reported by ��Ƶ®))
•
harbour waters

When will a potential claimant be a ‘lawful visitor’?

In theory, the answer to this question is simple: anyone who enters premises with the actual (ie express) or implied permission of the occupier is a

Andrew Wilson

Consultant Solicitor

Andrew has more than 25 years’ experience of working in the fields of personal injury and occupational disease litigation, acting for both claimants and defendants. He trained at L Bingham & Co, gaining early experience in a number of important high profile claims involving the MIB. During the 1990s Andrew worked at Hextalls and then Kennedys, predominantly for defendants across a range of motor, employers’ liability and public liability matters many of which involved serious injuries or death. More recently, he has dealt with cases for claimants who have suffered serious injuries or occupational disease. He was a partner in a large specialist practice. He has provided seminars to solicitors and other legal professionals both for an external conference company and in house on the workings of the Civil Procedure Rules in the context of personal injury claims, amongst other subjects.

He has now set up his own legal consultancy, providing advice and support to solicitors, particularly a specialist London practice, in connection with fatal accidents and very serious injury cases such as brain injury, mostly in the High Court. He has continued to develop his education and training activities, providing seminars and contributing articles and commentaries to legal information services.

Since his training, Andrew has retained a particular interest in issues of motor indemnity and the operation of the Road Traffic Act and Article 75.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Occupiers' liability definition

What does Occupiers' liability mean?

The duty of those who occupy property owed to visitors or trespassers to the property.

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