Imagine this: It is a sunny Saturday afternoon in Ile-Ife, Osun State. Ms. Funmi Oliye calls her best friend, Ms. Victoria Iziegbe Emokpae, inviting her over for lunch. Victoria, like many good friends, accepts the invite without a second thought. She brings a little gift, they eat a delicious meal, laugh about old memories and spend hours catching up.
A visit Between Friends
As it grows dark, Funmi remembers she left some drinks in the backyard. She asks Victoria to come with her. The floor was freshly washed and still slippery, but Victoria didn’t know that. Even worse, one of the tiles had been loose for several months, and had never been fixed.
Victoria stepped on to the wet surface and slipped suddenly. With a cry of pain she hit the ground hard. She was rushed to hospital where doctors confirmed she had fractured her ankle and sustained serious ligament damage to her knee. Then came the surgery, and months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. During this time she was unable to work, losing several months’ earnings.
Most people would just call this unfortunate accident. The law, however, poses a different question altogether.
Are visitors protected by the law? The answer is: Yes.
Many Nigerians are unaware that the law protects persons who are on the premises of another person and are there legally by virtue of the law of occupier liability. Every homeowner who invites a visitor onto his or her property has the legal duty to take reasonable care to see that the premises are reasonably safe.
That doesn’t mean that homeowners must remove every conceivable risk or assure that accidents will never happen. The law recognises that despite exercising due care, accidents can still occur. But where a person is aware of a dangerous condition, or has reason to be aware of it, and does nothing to remedy it or warn visitors then they may be liable for injuries arising from it.
If Funmi knew the tile became loose and also knew that the floor was slippery after washing it but did not warn Victoria before she walked across it, a court may find that she failed to exercise reasonable care.
Negligence is about carelessness, not bad will
One of the biggest misconceptions about personal injury claims is that you can only claim compensation if you have been intentionally hurt by someone. That is just not true.
Most successful personal injury claims are based on negligence, not on intentional wrongdoing. Negligence, in simple words, means doing something that a reasonable person would not do, under like circumstances.
Negligence can be as simple as leaving broken steps unrepaired or ignoring exposed electrical wiring. If someone is injured because of allowing water to remain on a slippery floor or failing to warn visitors of a hidden danger, then that can fall under negligence.
The law does not concern itself with the homeowner’s intention to cause injury. It asks instead whether the injury was one which could reasonably have been prevented by the exercise of proper care.
Can You Actually Sue a Friend?
This is perhaps the question that makes a lot of people uncomfortable.
It’s often emotionally difficult to contemplate bringing a claim against a close friend. Many think that if you ask to be compensated, the friendship is lost forever. That’s not always the case.
A personal injury claim is not about revenge or blame for the sake of it. It is about making sure that an injured person receives fair compensation for losses that would not have been incurred if reasonable care had been exercised.
In many cases the claims are settled amicably and not through lengthy court proceedings. If there is insurance, the homeowner may even be compensated by an insurer, not by the homeowner directly. Litigation is usually the last resort when attempts to settle the matter have failed.
What damages can an injured party recover?
An injury never happens to the body alone. It touches on all aspects of a person’s life. People like Victoria may face mounting hospital bills, physiotherapy costs, travel expenses to and from medical appointments, and months without income as they recover. If the injury results in a permanent disability, it could also affect her ability to earn a living in the future. Yet behind these financial losses lurks something that cannot be measured easily – the pain, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life in the everyday.
The law recognises these consequences and, when negligence is proven, allows compensation that reflects both the financial loss suffered and the human impact of the injury.
Visitors Have Responsibilities Too
The law is fair for all. Visitors also have a duty to take reasonable care for their own safety. If the danger is obvious, or has been clearly warned about, a visitor cannot just ignore it and expect the homeowner to bear all the responsibility.
Suppose Funmi had told Victoria plainly that the floor had been washed and suggested that she take another route. If Victoria ignored that warning and ran onto the wet surface, a court may find that she contributed to her own injuries. This is known in legal speak as contributory negligence. Where this happens, compensation is generally cut down to reflect the injured person’s share of fault, not simply refused.
The facts of each accident must be taken separately
But not all accidents become a legal claim. Sometimes accidents happen even when everyone is exercising reasonable care. A visitor may trip over his own feet or lose his balance for reasons that are unrelated to the condition of the property. Likewise, a dangerous situation can develop so quickly that the homeowner had no reasonable opportunity to discover or correct it.
For this reason, close examination of the facts of each case must be undertaken before any conclusions are reached. What seems to be “just an accident” may be a case of negligence, and what seems to be negligence may turn out to be an unavoidable mishap.
It’s important to know your rights
The aim of personal injury law is not to encourage people to sue their friends, neighbours or family members. It aims to create accountability and to ensure that those who suffer preventable injuries are not left to pay the financial consequences themselves.
