Duties of occupiers and highway authorities

Brown and Others v South West Lakes and Others [2022] EWCA Civ 18

The decision of the Court of Appeal outlined below raises some interesting points in connection with duties owed to trespassers by occupiers of land on which injuries were sustained and statutory duties of a local authority as a highway authority. The Court of Appeal considered whether the widower and children of a woman killed by drowning in a reservoir had reasonable causes of action or a real prospect of success in their claims under the common law, the Highways Acts 1959 and 1980, and the Occupiers’ Liability Acts 1957 and 1984.