HI6027 Business And Corporate Law - Group Assignment Case Studies

Part B: Negligence question (10 marks)

On 3 April 2020, Madeline Burnett placed an advertisement in the Trading Post, a specialist newspaper, advertising a garage sale to be held at her home in the weekend of 5-6 April 2020. Madeline has previous experience in conducting garage sales. Such activities are common in the suburbs of Adelaide, where Madeline’s home was situated, and elsewhere throughout Australia.
The first day of the garage sale, 5 April 2020, started out clear and sunny. Madeline's property included a concrete driveway extending from a carport annexed to the house to the public footpath and road. The driveway comprised sections of concrete joined in an expansion joint which extended throughout its length. Madeline placed a variety of domestic articles for sale on a trestle table situated on the southern side of the driveway close to the carport. Prospective purchasers had no alternative but to approach the goods by walking over the driveway. Madeline expected a volume of pedestrian traffic to attend the sale. She knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of the disparity in the levels of the adjoining concrete slabs in the forecourt of her home.
Darcie entered Madeline's premises at about 8:40 a.m. wearing slip-on shoes. She walked towards the trestle table. To do this, she had to cross the divide in the concrete slabs. An object caught her eye, presumably one of the garden or other items for sale on the trestle table. At that point, her right foot rolled on the elevation of one concrete slab as it adjoined the adjacent slab. Darcie, a woman then aged 53, fell towards the ground, touching it but then regaining her footing. In the course of this motion, she felt a crack in her right foot. This was later diagnosed as having caused a fracture.
Darcie sued Madeline in the Magistrates Court of South Australia, claiming damages for negligence. Using legal principles and rules learned on Negligence, advise Darcie on whether her case against Madeleine will be successful.