Case Report: 1999 GWD 22-1077; 2002 G.W.D. 26 – 921
Scottish Courts Service decision.
The facts: The claimant had been injured when he slipped down a steep embankment adjoining a car park.
Decision: This was an Inner House case in the Court of Session on appeal from a decision by Lady Cosgrove in the Outer House. Both the Outer House and Inner House of the Court of Session indicated that there was no duty to fence off a natural hazard that is obvious. However, the pleadings on behalf of the claimant were amended prior to the appeal to the Inner House, to put in question the safeness of the exit from the car park and the steepness of the ground immediately outside the exit; on this basis the Inner House reversed the decision to dismiss the case outright and sent it back to the Outer House for a proof (i.e. to hear the evidence of witnesses in full). The final outcome is not reported.