Jack Harris reports on the duty of landowners towards uninvited guests
The recent judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case of Harvey v Plymouth City Council [2010] EWCA Civ 860 will be welcomed by local authorities, commercial landowners and their insurers.
The Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the judge at first instance so as to dismiss the claim of a young man, who had injured himself in reckless late night horseplay on the council’s land. In doing so the court confirmed that a landowner owes a duty under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 (the 1957 Act) only to those who use its land within the terms of the licence granted to them by the landowner.
The facts
The claimant had travelled back in a taxi from a night out with friends. He was drunk. Together with a friend he decided to run away from the taxi without paying. He ran onto an area of parkland, of which the council agreed it was occupier. The parkland had been in common usage by the public, often for less than salubrious purposes. One 17-year-old
