Plantiff and defendant both stayed as guests in a health resort. Each morning breakfast buffet was quite crowded as patients’ breakfast time was limited and many patients had to start their treatments early. One morning defendant was queuing up behind plaintiff and within the crowd suddenly her leg somehow got between plaintiff’s legs. Plaintiff tripped over denfendant’s leg, fell down and suffered injury.First instance court (LG Wels) dismissed the claim, appelate court (OLG Linz) upheld the judgement: Crowding at a breakfast buffet was comparable to taking part in a sporting competition. In both cases there was no liablity for the typical rsiks of usual conduct.Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) in decision 2 Ob 237/09f of Jan. 1, 2010 confirmed this view and empahsized that plaintiff had failed to produce evidence of any fault on behalf of plaintiff.Full text of Supreme Court decision avialable in German here>>.
