Injury due to Dangerous Environment in Cyprus
Every day, people are getting injured because of the negligence of someone else and one common way to get injured in every day life, is the Slip and Fall Injury.
Every person in ownership and control of the property shall take all reasonable precautions to protect his visitors from harm caused by a reasonably anticipated risk.
These hazards are diverse and stem from a wide variety of human activities, which is why the property owner is required to reduce the risks and make the facility fairly safe for its guests The most common injury is the Slip and Fall Injury but there are also many other ways to get injured.
The owner’s duty stems from the fact that he owns the property and has control and oversight over it. Residences, stores, supermarkets, leisure and entertainment centers, stadiums, sports fields, under construction structures, hotels, workshops, and construction sites are examples of such properties. Article 51(2)(b) of Chapter 148 governs the liability of the owner of immovable property, but it is also governed by the more general duty to exercise due diligence for the protection of the neighbor, i.e. the persons who are reasonably foreseeable to be affected by the acts and activities in his work premises.
Possession and control of immovable property makes the owner liable for negligence. He or she has a duty of care to anyone lawfully on or entering it, including visitors, invitees, licensees, and anyone else who might reasonably be expected to trespass on the property, such as children playing on it, strangers who show up without permission, as well as animals and birds.
Duty of care of the owner of Immovable Property in Cyprus
In terms of dangers originating from the static condition of the real estate, a real estate owner’s duty of care to his visitor varies from the duty of care to a licensee. The owner owes it to the former to take reasonable precautions to maintain the premises fairly secure. The holder, however, is not an insurer. His obligation is not to avert exceptional risk, but to protect against damage caused by extraordinary danger that he knows or should have known about. A basic licensee’s obligation is restricted to notifying him of any concealed or latent hazard that he knows or should be expected to know.
An invitee is a person who visits the premises at the owner’s invitation if the owner has a financial or material stake in the premises. The invitation might be explicit, tacit, or oral. When it comes to risks posed by human activity, the duty of care is the same whether the person is an invitee or a licensee. A property owner who desires to restrict guests’ movements inside the premises must do so precisely and unambiguously; otherwise, he remains accountable for any loss he anticipated to incur as a result of reasonably foreseeable dangers.
Relevant Case Law
The issue of the owner’s culpability was addressed by the Larnaca District Court in a judgement made on 12.7.2018 by Judge Mr. X. Xenophontos in a case involving an accident caused by a fall through a hole on the roof of an apartment building during the installation of an antenna.
The Court recognized that the two defendant owners purchased a portion of the apartment building’s roof after purchasing it. There was an unmarked uncovered hole in the first defendant’s portion of the roof, and the second defendant, knowing of its existence, authorized the plaintiff to install the antenna without notifying him of it.
The Court determined that the exposed hole constituted a concealed and unexpected hazard, emphasizing that having a huge uncovered hole in the roof of an inhabited apartment building, even one that is under construction, is not an usual or expected hazard.
An antenna installer cannot be expected to anticipate the possibility of an uncovered hole in the roof. With connection to the first defendant, the plaintiff was a simple licensee who was responsible for the static state of the property in order to notify him of the hidden or latent hazard of the hole, for example, by erecting a warning sign.
According to the second defendant, the plaintiff was considered his guest, thus he should have been aware of the possible risk of the roof that sent the plaintiff. The proprietors bore 70% of the blame, but the plaintiff bore 30% since he was irresponsible in ascending into an unknown region and taking steps backwards.
What to do after an injury took place
The following steps will help us improve our chances of success in our compensation claim, so it is important that they be followed in the event of injury or other damage resulting from the physician’s negligent act or omission.
KEEP RECORDS of conversations with the doctor at all stages (from the first and all visits). Ask him about the implications his therapy might have for you, successes and failures, alternatives, and other information you may need.
REQUEST COPIES OF MEDICAL DATA from a doctor or hospital/clinic. Medical records may include a diagnosis, prescriptions, a consent form, x-rays, blood tests, a medical report detailing treatment, a hospital/clinic discharge if you have been hospitalized.
MAKE A REPORT WITH THE POLICE and ask for a confirmation letter of your report, this will help the investigation and make our process official while the police may find supportive evidence for our Claim.
CREATE A CALENDAR in which you will describe in as much detail as possible how you feel after the injury, the difficulties you face, changes in your daily life, mentioning dates, people who witnessed any events. This will help calculate compensation.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SIGN If you are given any document that could be consent in writing for some type of surgery or other treatment, make sure that it does not mention anywhere a disclaimer of liability for any damage caused to you. Otherwise, you will not be able to claim compensation.
TAKE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS before and after treatment to show your injuries. Also keep receipts for any expenses you incurred as a result of your injury, as well as proof of loss of income, changes to the home, equipment purchases, etc.
CONTACT US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE So we can help you step by step to complete the process. Also, if necessary, we must refer you to our doctors to get their opinion / testimony.
How is compensation for Injury calculated in Cyprus
Physical injuries and moral/emotional damage are not countable and are determined by the individual circumstances of each case. To be more specific, here are a few factors that will help us determine financial losses.
• any expenses you had to pay as a result of your injury
• any damage to your property
• any travel expenses
• any other medical expenses (medicine, nurse, etc.)
• changing your home, car, or other places so you can be available to you after your injury
• loss of earnings at the time you were injured, and loss of future earnings if the injury results in permanent disability
• loss of pension rights if you are unable to work again after an injury
AVZ Law Office Cyprus
Our Law Office handles cases in all cities of Cyprus. Our priority is to secure the highest possible compensation for you and in a reasonable time, without inconveniencing you.
The process starts with submitting a claim to the insurance company, the insurance company will usually make a lower offer and in case you are happy with the amount, only then will we settle out of court.
Otherwise we will proceed with taking legal measures and claiming compensation through Court Action against the Insurance Company and/or the driver.
NO WIN NO FEE
AVZ Law Office works with No Win No Fee Concept, meaning you won’t have to pay any legal fees or any other fees for making your compensation claim. Our Office only gets paid if we Successfully recover the damages you are entitled to. After that we will keep a small percentage of 5% of the compensation amount to cover the costs of the procedure.