Litigation: Departments held liable for lawyer’s court fall

A lawyer who slipped on a wet floor in the passage of a Magistrate’s Court and severely injured his shoulder is claiming nearly R2.9m from the Departments of Public Works & Infrastructure, and Justice & Constitutional Development. According to a Cape Times report, Lineen Swarts told Eastern Cape High Court (Gqeberha) Acting Judge I Bands that these departments should have ensured that the passages were safe for all who visited the court. The departments, on the other hand, blamed Swarts for the incident and said he was the author of his own misfortune as he had simply lost his balance. They also blamed the cleaning company which held the tender to clean the court building, arguing that since government departments had nothing to do with the cleaning process, they could not be held liable. But Bands found that the departments were indeed liable for any damages which Swarts could prove were the result of the slip and fall incident. The court held that government could not merely appoint a cleaning service – one in this case which it knew very little about – and sit back and hope for the best. Bands found that the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure, as the custodian of the building, and Justice Department, as the occupier thereof, were under a legal duty to the plaintiff and the public at large to ensure that the buildings, including the floors in the passageways, were safe and free of obvious hazards which would pose a risk to the public.