Reviewed by: Myfanwy Buckeridge
Author: Charles Foster and Ben Bradley
ISBN: 978 1 84661 205 3
Price: £50.00

Every caseload of a general personal injury lawyer will have a number of tripping and slipping cases. In a large proportion of these cases the defendant will be obvious, an early admission of liability obtained and swift settlement will follow. In those circumstances the need for this book and the in-depth knowledge and detail of the relevant law it provides may be avoided.

But there are still significant numbers of cases where the defendant is not obvious and more frequently liability will be denied, so that the nature of the negligence or breach of statutory duty will need greater and detailed refinement and the applicability of any available defences needs to be well understood. That is where this book comes in.

This book’s predecessor was first published in 1994. Both then and now the writers claim their aim is for the book to be a ‘one stop shop’ guide for practitioners on tripping and slipping cases. This book delivers.

Don’t expect the legal equivalent of the narrative cookery book you might take to bed to read and be transported by the chef’s details of their travels through exotic lands and colourful descriptions of the sensuous taste and colour of delicious food and where the recipes seem hidden and incidental.

This book is the straightforward ingredients-and-method equivalent. Even the writers of this book describe it as ‘brutal’ and that is what it is. It is a no-nonsense, to the point, practical guide setting out all you need to know to successfully conduct and where necessary litigate tripping and slipping claims.

The book, the law in which should be up to date to February 2010, covers the identification of the right defendant which can be problematical; establishing the nature of the highway and the duties of highway authorities.

To a novice or even experienced practitioner these areas can be a minefield. How great and how convenient to have the necessary and laborious work done for you, and a ‘highway’ provided to negotiate your way through your own claims. On a personal level I regret that the detail of the relevant statutes such as the various Highways acts and, for example, the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 hold little intrinsic interest to me, so thank you to Charles Foster and Ben Bradley for bringing the essential need-to-know aspects to my attention.

The book also covers ‘duties’, both statutory and under common law, including negligence, nuisance, the liability of occupiers and liability of landlords and employers. There is practical advice too on how to prepare a case addressing both the claimant’s and defendant’s points of view. I found particularly useful the section on disclosure.

There is also an excellent selection of precedents which include questionnaires and template letters and statements of case. To spoil us even further there are appendices which include case summaries, HSE risk assessments and other relevant materials including relevant guidelines to trip and slip accidents. There are even photographic examples and useful addresses.

So, brutal and lacking in human interest it may be, but a joy for the practitioner to be spared the need to research each aspect of the case law and statute individually and instead to be directed through one reference point only to where you need to go should an individual case require further research.

But in my experience the likelihood is that you would need to look no further. This book is likely to be all you need. It claims its aim is to allow practitioners to knock off an hour early. In my view it succeeds in doing this as well as making a complicated area of law, which is fraught with pitfalls, easily accessible. It is an essential addition to the library of all those conducting personal injury cases.

Myfanwy Buckeridge is a senior solicitor at Barcan Woodward

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