Suchergebnisse

The German Federal Supreme Court had to deal with the following set of facts: The plaintiff was a tenant in an appartment block. The defendant was the heir of the owner and landlord of the building. The outer wall of the stairwell, which was designed by an architect and had been approved by the building regulations officials, was glazed with glass that was only 2 mm thick, rather than with safety glass. The plaintiff lost his footing on the last flight of stairs as he was on his way down, fell and crashed into a pane of glass in the outer wall of the stairwell with his left arm, breaking the pane and causing himself serious injuries. The appeal court rejected his claim, concluding that the owner of the appartment block could not be held at fault. However, according to the judgment of the German Federal Supreme Court, the owner of an appartment block is in breach of his duty of care if he does nothing to remedy a danger that is apparent to him, arising from the glazing of the outer wall of a stairwell with ordinary glass.