OLA (lawful visitors)

Question 1

Defined in…

Answer 1

Occupier Liability Act 1957

Question 2

C must prove..

Answer 2

that they were a lawful visitor. This can be with express,implied,contractual or licensed permission to be on the premises. ( Lowery v Walker)

Question 3

D must..

Answer 3

be the occupier (wheat v Lacon)

Question 4

What are the different characteristics of C that will affect their expectations under OLA?

Answer 4

Adult, child, skilled visitor or an independant contractor.

Question 5

if C is an Adult…

Answer 5

Section 2 (1) states that they owe a ‘common duty of care’
Section 2 (2) “ take care as such in all the circumstances of the case to reasonably forsee that visitors are reasonably safe when using the premises for the purpose of which they were invited for “
D must take the adequate precautions to keep C safe and standard f care will be judged compared to that of the ‘reasonable occupier’

Question 6

If C is a skilled visitor…

Answer 6

Section 2 (2) (b) = “appreciate and guard against any special risks ordinarily incidental to it “
Rescuers are not included e.g firemen

Question 7

If C is a child…

Answer 7

Section 2(1) and 2(2) apply.
D must prepare for children to be less careful than adults
Children are more at risk so therefore have a higher standard of care. This is judged subjectively- Moloney v Lambeth BC. The younger the child the higher the standard of care.
D must also guard against the risk of allurement. D will only be liable if the injury was reasonably forseeable. Mere existence of the allurement without any previous warnings, will not be enough.
Young children should be supervised.

Question 8

If C is an idependent contractor…

Answer 8

D can pass on liability to an idependent contractor as long as they prove..
a) D took the steps to ensure that Z was reasonably competent
b) it was reasonable to give Z the work
c) checked all non technical work has been done properly
any technical work does not need to be checked.