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A man was paralysed after hitting a concrete mat underwater when he fell off the pier at Tomtekaia in Oslo. Underwater, a concrete mat lay over a district heating pipe, just 1.30 metres below the surface. The man hit this concrete mat and was paralysed from the waist down after the diving accident.
The man filed a claim for compensation for the financial losses caused by the accident. His claim was upheld by the District Court and the Court of Appeal, but Oslo Municipality appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court made a broad assessment of how far the municipality's liability extended. The court recognised that the underwater concrete mat represented a particular and man-made risk of falling, and that the municipality was aware that it was there.
Several warning signs had been erected along the quayside with a short distance between them. The Supreme Court found that the signs were clear and that the injured party had not made the necessary investigations before he fell. The Supreme Court was therefore of the opinion that the municipality could not be blamed for failing to mark the concrete mat separately. The Supreme Court concluded that the municipality had to be able to expect visitors to the pier to assess the risk themselves.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled that the municipality could not be required to provide more extensive signage so that the risk-reducing measures were sufficient. The municipality could then not be blamed for not having given clearer notice of the danger. The Supreme Court found that the man had not carried out the necessary investigations before he fell and he was therefore unsuccessful in his claim for compensation.
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Maja Agnes Simonsen
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