Saturday, February 06, 2010

Neighbourly duty

Lawyers have been stepping on to the airways to reassure us that it is very unlikely that a judge would find against us should anyone have the temerity to sue us for the crime of clearing the snow from the pavement in front of our own home – providing, that is, that we did not do it in a particularly stupid fashion. So go on, be neighbourly, is the cry.

Jeremy Wright, Conservative MP for Rugby and Kenilworth, introduced a private members bill to try & clarify matters, to amend the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure that courts considering a claim of negligence or breach of statutory duty apply a presumption that defendants undertaking a desirable activity have satisfied the relevant standard of care, contrasting our situation unfavourably with the detailed German code Satzung über die Verpflichtung zum Reinigen, Schneeräumen und Streuen auf Gehwegen.

All this is very welcome, but it misses the main worry. By the time a court considers a claim of negligence against us we will have spent many months agonising, consulting (& paying) lawyers to defend us. That in itself is punishment sufficient to deter us from taking the risk.

Posted by at