Description
Proof - Reparation:- On 4 May 1999 the pursuer sustained injuries as a result of a fall on a flight of stairs as she walked to her car to drive to her night shift. On Record the pursuer averred that several steps on the last flight were loose. She claimed that the loose steps wobbled and moved underfoot when she stood on them and she lost her footing on a loose step and fell causing a head injury and a compound fracture to the neck of the left humerus. In the action quantum was agreed and the proof proceeded solely on liability. At proof a number of issues arose:- (1) whether the pursuer fell on the stairs; (2) whether the pursuer lost her footing on a loose step and (3) whether the defenders knew or ought to have known of any defect. Here the court considered whether the defenders knew or ought to have known that there was a defect which constituted a hazard to persons using the stairway and whether it was reasonably foreseeable that a person using the stairs, such as the pursuer, would fall and sustain injuries.
