Expert Witness Journal Issue 68 August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 50
6.
Consider the characteristics of foreseeable
users, including height, age, impairment,
fatigue, distraction and foreseeable social
behaviour.
7.
Examine the adequacy of inspections and risk
assessments before the accident.
8.
Assess both likelihood and severity, rather
than relying only upon the absence of previous
accidents.
9.
Identify the precaution which ought reasonably
to have been taken, together with its cost,
di昀케culty and likely e昀昀ectiveness.
Above all, the case is a reminder that a low balustrade
is not merely part of the background to a fall. It
may be the very feature which converts an ordinary
stumble, a loss of balance or a brief moment of
horseplay into a catastrophic brain injury.
The law does not demand a risk-free environment. It
does require occupiers and employers to recognise
an obvious, grave and readily remediable danger
before somebody falls.
10. Reconstruct the mechanism from the whole
body of evidence, distinguishing credibility
from reliability.
11. Test causation against each realistic factual
mechanism.
12. Analyse visitor status, volenti, illegality and
contributory negligence separately rather than
collapsing them into a general allegation of
misconduct.
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Conclusion
ZZZ is an important and factually rich authority.
Its signi昀椀cance is not con昀椀ned to military
accommodation or alcohol-fuelled horseplay.
0161 834 0017
It con昀椀rms that the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957
is concerned with the real relationship between an
occupier and a visitor, not an arti昀椀cial legal status
which changes from second to second according to
momentary conduct.
Mr. Mike Hart
Senior Lecturer &
Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon
It con昀椀rms that older premises must be assessed in
the light of their present use, their present users and
current professional knowledge, even where modern
regulations are not retrospectively binding.
BSc (Hons), MBChB, AHEA, PhD, FRCSEd (Neuro.surg), FEBNS
Mr. Mike Hart performs work as an expert witness with Eopinex. His aim is to
provide specialist information in a clear and timely manner, producing the highest
standard of court-compliant reports. He actively participates in regular formal
training delivered by certified providers to remain up to date, in line with guidance
from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (2019).
It demonstrates that causation depends upon the
factual mechanism found by the court, rather than
the most dramatic hypothetical proposition put to
an expert.
His specialist interests encompass the full spectrum of functional neurosurgery,
including movement disorders, pain, and epilepsy. He also undertakes general
neurosurgery—such as the management of hydrocephalus, infection, and
traumatic brain injury—as well as spinal surgery, including decompression,
discectomy, and cauda equina syndrome.
It shows that contributory negligence requires
proper evidence and su昀케ciently precise 昀椀ndings,
particularly where the relevant events were brief and
the claimant’s memory has been impaired by brain
injury.
Areas of Expertise
The claimant’s success did not depend upon
establishing that the Ministry was required to
prevent young soldiers from drinking or engaging
in every form of horseplay. It depended upon the
more conventional proposition that an employer and
occupier, providing compulsory accommodation to
young soldiers, should have identi昀椀ed and remedied
an obvious low balustrade which exposed occupants
to the risk of a catastrophic fall.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
•
General neurosurgery including traumatic brain injury, infection,
hydrocephalus).
•
Spinal neurosurgery including back pain, sciatica, lumbar disc disease,
lumbar stenosis, whiplash, neck pain, cervical disc disease, cervical
myelopathy.
•
Functional neurosurgery; movement disorders; Parkinson's disease; tremor;
dystonia; pain; spinal cord stimulation; epilepsy; vagal nerve stimulation;
spasticity; intrathecal drug delivery; peripheral nerve stimulation.
Email: info@mrmikehart.com
Website: www.mrmikehart.com
48
AUGUST 2026
