Gillies v Saddington

[2004] NSWCA 110

CITATION:	Gillies v Saddington [2004] NSWCA 110
HEARING DATE(S):	31 March 2004
JUDGMENT DATE:	31 March 2004
JUDGMENT OF:	Sheller JA at 17; Giles JA at 1; Ipp JA at 18
DECISION:	Appeal dismissed with costs.
CATCHWORDS:	Negligence - slipping case - appellant slipped on steep and wet driveway - slipperiness obvious - few occasions of slipping over many years - no need to use driveway - whether error in finding respondent had failed to take reasonable care. ND
CASES CITED:	Baker v Gilbert [2003] NSWCA 113; Council of the Shire of Wyong v Shirt (1980) 146 CLR 40.
PARTIES :	Annette Gillies - Appellant David Saddington - Respondent
FILE NUMBER(S):	CA 40043/03
COUNSEL:	A C A Bridge SC & P See - Appellant M Ashhurst - Respondent
SOLICITORS:	Crameri Lawyers, Newcastle - Appellant Hicksons - Respondent

LOWER COURTJURISDICTION:	District Court
LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S):	DC 384/00 (Newcastle)
LOWER COURT JUDICIAL OFFICER :	J R Nield DCJ

CA 40043/03
DC 384/00

SHELLER JA
GILES JA
IPP JA

Wednesday 31 March 2004

GILLIES v SADDINGTON

Judgment

1 GILES JA: The appellant was injured when she slipped and fell on the wet driveway of the respondent’s home. She alleged that the steep slope of the driveway and the materials of which it was constructed made it dangerously slippery when wet, and that the respondent was negligent in permitting it to be in that state and not providing other suitable access to his home. The judge was not satisfied that the respondent failed to take reasonable care to avoid foreseeable risk of injury to the appellant.

2 The driveway was constructed in 1987. The respondent’s home was on land falling from the road so that the driveway ran downhill from the road to the home. It followed the natural slope of the land, and there were grassed areas on each side also following the natural slope of the land and covering effectively the remainder of the frontage of the respondent’s home. At the bottom of the slope there was a flat area constructed of the same materials as the driveway. From the photographs, if a car were driven straight down the driveway it would go into the garage, and if there was pedestrian divergence along the right-hand splayed area of the driveway the pedestrian would end up on the flat area moving towards the front door of the home.

3 The driveway was constructed using exposed river gravel aggregate, a material commonly used for that purpose in the 1980s. It complied with applicable standards of the time, although there was no standard for slipperiness for pedestrian use. The slope of the driveway was 1:4.6. The judge accepted that on test the co-efficient of friction of the driveway when wet was 0.37. Although his Honour did not specifically refer to it, the expert evidence was that when the slope was also taken into account the co-efficient of friction was considerably reduced, to the value of 0.14. According to the expert evidence these…