Lawyer calls for more challenges against personal injury claims

Lawyer David Scott has called for a fight back against the increasing tide of personal injury claims made against holiday parks.

Scott, partner at commercial law firm Hill Dickinson, has successfully defended a claim made by Patrick Gallagher against Haven Leisure after an accident at a caravan park.

Scott said: "The claimant sought damages from Haven Leisure for a knee injury after he was walking on a grassy area between two caravans and put his left foot into a hole obscured by grass, causing him to fall to the ground. It was held that the hole in which Gallagher had placed his foot was a natural gully that was within range of features reasonably to be expected on the site and therefore Haven Leisure had not breached the common duty of care under the Occupiers Liability Act."

Scott views the outcome of this case as a real common sense decision in terms of the Occupiers Liability Act, particularly in circumstances where the claimant should have taken greater care for his own safety.

Scott said: "There are a rising number of personal injury claims by individuals against larger institutions who rely on the cases being settled out of court, which is leading to mounting insurance costs.

"It is important that these cases are challenged as insurance premiums start to get perilously high. Too often we see cases where the claimant, and often the courts, seem to require a far higher standard of the defendant and overlook the claimant's own culpability.

"Although it is important that leisure park owners do take responsibility for the safety of visitors to their sites, it is equally important to recognise genuine claims. Otherwise we could reach a situation where owners of smaller holiday parks are closing down because they cannot afford the insurance premiums."