Claim rejected over slip-up

DID A woman from Brackendowns, Alberton, slip on a wet step and land in a nearby fountain or did she suffer injuries when she slipped on a loose tile?

This was the question the high court in Pretoria faced when 56-yearold Charmaine Muller instituted a R750 000 damages claim against her son’s former fiancée, Jermaine Lawrence.

Muller blamed Lawrence for the accident and stated she had a duty to ensure that visitors to her house were not at the risk of being injured.

Lawrence and Muller’s son, Terrence Muller, were engaged and they had a son together. They broke-up about a year before the accident.

Muller told the court that Lawrence remained in the townhouse which was registered in the name of the three of them. She said Lawrence was solely responsible for the townhouse after her son moved out.

Muller testified that she went to stay in the townhouse for the weekend of March 22, 2013 to take care of her grandson when Lawrence was away.

On the Sunday morning she walked outside, using the sliding doors leading from the lounge. When she returned, she stepped on the top step, when a loose tile moved and caused her to slip. She severely injured her ribs as a result, she said.

Muller could not explain why clinical notes, made by the doctor who later examined her, stated she fell on the stairs – not on a tile – and landed in a nearby water fountain. Judge Nelisa Mali said Muller’s inability to explain why she at first said she slipped and fell into the water fountain puts her credibility in doubt.

The judge said while she had sympathy with Muller, as no one deserved to be injured, she did not prove that her injury was due to any loose tile. “In fact, I find there was no loose tile,” the judge said in turning down the claim.