Sowerby v Charlton [2005]

The claimant visited friends who rented a property from the defendant. There were several steps from the pavement up to the front door, as the property was higher than the pavement. There was a handrail on the left hand side of the steps but not on the right, and on the right side of the steps were more steps leading down to a basement flat. On each side of the front steps was a very low stone pediment. The claimant fell over the edge of the steps, down at least eight feet onto the hard surface (or the stone steps) below, and was rendered paraplegic.

After an initial exchange of correspondence, the defendant landlord had admitted liability in a letter, but then later withdrew the admission when legal proceedings had been issued. The defendant then said that the claimant had been contributorily negligent. The claimant then successfully applied to strike out parts of the defendant’s defence, in order to rely on the defendant’s admission of liability.
The judge found for the claimant, but the defendant was granted permission to appeal on the basis that part of the Civil Procedure Rules raised an important issue.

HELD: The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The part of the Civil Procedure Rules in question did not apply, and also the claimant was not contributorily negligent.


Citation: Sowerby v Charlton [2005] EWCA 1610