Brady v Northern Ireland Housing Executive
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1990 |
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
Immunity of occupier in respect of loss or damage caused by mere non-feasance - Injury sustained in fall on land owned by Housing Executive - Land consistently used as footpath but not adopted by Department of the Environment - Pothole caused by natural wear and tear - Acceptance and dedication - Whether land part of highway - Whether direct evidence of dedication necessary - Whether highway could exist in absence of defined path - Whether owner owed statutory common duty of care as occupier - Whether liable in negligence - Occupiers' Liability Act (Northern Ireland), 1957 (c. 25), ss. 1 (1), 2 (1) - Occupiers' Liability (Northern Ireland) Order, 1987, arts. 3 (7), 9.
The appellant lived in a house, of which his mother was tenant, in the Turf Lodge estate, Belfast. At about 11.30 p.m. on 17 March, 1986, he fell and suffered injury near the Martin Forsythe Social Club which was situated off Monagh Road in the same housing estate. He was walking from a shop in the Monagh Road to the office of a taxi company close to the club. His route took him across a piece of ground at the edge of the carriage-way, roughly semi-circular in shape and measuring some 40' or 50' across. It was bordered by kerbstones and raised a few inches above the road. The piece of ground may have been intended as an extension of the footpath but it was not constructed in such a way as to link up with the footpath and it had been left as an island or peninsula. The area was treated as a footpath and pedestrians consistently passed and repassed over it. At the time of the appellant's accident, the surface of the piece of ground consisted of gravel and hard core. Holes frequently developed in it and it was variously described as an area of rough or waste ground. The hold in which the appellant caught his foot was situate immediately behind a kerbstone and measured approximately 12'' X 14'' and was 5'' deep. The street lighting was only fair and the hole was capable of being a danger to pedestrians, even those who knew the area well. The hole had not been created by any positive act but had developed through wear and tear and the action of the elements. The piece of ground in question had not been adopted for maintenance by the Department of the Environment. Turf Lodge estate and the roads in it had been constructed by Belfast Corporation and the responsibility for the estate passed to the Housing Executive in 1973 and was in its...
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McGeown v Northern Ireland Housing Executive
...was dismissed by the trial judge, who held that he was bound by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland in Brady v. Northern Ireland Housing Executive [1990] N.I. 200, where the plaintiff had failed on very similar facts. His judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal (Hut......
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McGeown v. Northern Ireland Housing Executive, (1994) 169 N.R. 226 (HL)
...premises - Licencees - Licencee defined - [See Real Property - Topic 7125 ]. Cases Noticed: Brady v. Northern Ireland Housing Executive, [1990] N.I. 200 (C.A), refd to. [para. Gautret v. Egerton (1867), L.R. 2 C.P. 371, folld. [para. 4]. Greenhalgh v. British Railways Board, [1969] 2 Q.B. 2......