Negligence Archives - Ashersons Attorneys

01 Sep 2021

Don’t Risk Consequential “Loss of Profits” Damages: Check Your Contracts and Insurance!

One of the risks you run in any business is being sued for losses you cause to someone else. Although normally your risk of legal liability is linked to the claimant proving some form of negligence on your part (i.e. the onus is on the claimant to prove your negligence), there are exceptions. To take one example (as seen in the case discussed below) a “carrier of goods for reward by land” has “absolute liability” to deliver goods undamaged; and thus the onus switches to the carrier to prove a lack of fault. No matter who has to prove what…

30 Jul 2018

By Ashersons Attorneys

Suing Your Security Company: The Case of a Burgled Butchery

When you employ a security company to provide alarm monitoring and “armed response” services, you are paying them to protect you from criminals. What are your rights if they don’t do their job properly? A recent High Court case of M J Repapis Enterprises CC t/a Inyama Rama Butchery v Red Alert (Pty) Ltd (1879/2014) [2018] ZAECGHC 42 illustrates. The alarm, the safecrackers and the “all in order” report Burglars broke into a butchery one evening through the roof, triggering an alarm. They cut open two safes with angle grinders and escaped into the night with a large amount of cash.…

04 Jan 2016

By Ashersons Attorneys

The Electrocuted Cyclist – More risk for suppliers

If you operate anywhere in a product supply chain (producer, importer, distributor, retailer, supplier, installer etc) be aware that your risk of being sued under the CPA (Consumer Protection Act) just increased. First “No Fault”, now even wider liability To recap, the CPA makes you liable for any form or level of damage to person or property resulting from defective or unsafe products. Critically, there is no need to prove any form of negligence on your part – liability is now “no-fault” or “strict”. And whilst there are a few defences still open to you, they are limited. Now a…

04 Nov 2015

By Ashersons Attorneys

It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt

In a recent decision handed down by the Honorable Judge Kollapen in the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa on 10 September 2015 (BJ Strydom v M W P Strecker and Another), the Court considered the extent of the legal duty on property owners / occupants in ensuring the safety of those visiting their property. The case arose due to a devastating twist of events during a social visit between the plaintiff, his then-wife, their two minor children and the defendants at the defendants’ house. One of plaintiffs’ children, referred to as “B”, had a near-drowning experience…

01 Oct 2015

By Andrew Goldschmidt

Property Owners – Manage your risk of being sued

What happens if someone is injured or killed, or suffers some other form of loss on your property? Three recent court cases highlight your risk of liability for any potential dangers that you don’t take reasonable steps to avoid. Case 1: The landlord, the holiday let and the visitor who fell from the stairs “The lack of protection on the garage side of the stairs below the gate was an inherently dangerous state of affairs ….” (Extract from judgment) Letting out your holiday home to a tenant may be a lucrative option if you are holidaying elsewhere, or if you…