No matter how beautifully the golden yellow leaves on the trees shine on sunny autumn days, as soon as the leaves fall to the ground and it rains, they can become a danger. For example, if they are left at the entrances to subway escalators. This was the experience of a woman who had a serious fall at the entrance to the escalator at the Arabellapark subway station and has now sued the Munich Transport Company (MVG) and the Stadtwerke (SWM) for pain and suffering and damages totaling almost 10,000 euros.
In the hearing before the 2nd Civil Chamber at the Munich I Regional Court, the plaintiff explained that on the morning of November 18, 2021 around 8:15 a.m. there were a lot of slippery leaves on the floor slab at the entrance to the escalator at the subway station. To get onto the escalator, she had no choice but to step on the leaves. This had fatal consequences. According to the woman, she slipped and fell. She suffered a rupture of the ankle joint and the lateral ligament as well as a lateral ligament lesion.
In her testimony in court, the plaintiff claimed that MVG and SWM did not do enough cleaning at the entrances to the subways, especially in difficult weather conditions. Both companies rejected this accusation and made it clear that access to the escalator at the Arabellapark subway station was controlled the evening before the accident. No “dangerous underground conditions” were found. According to MVG and SWM, every subway station in the city is checked twice a day. Simultaneous control of all 96 Munich subway stations is unreasonable.
The court ultimately dismissed the woman’s lawsuit. Even if it is fundamentally necessary to ensure that accidents do not occur, a person “obliged to ensure traffic safety”, in the present case MVG and SWM, does not have to take all conceivable measures in order to “rule out possible danger to others.” Sufficient are “measures which a prudent and reasonable person would consider necessary”.
There is no obligation for MVG and SWM to keep the entrances to the subway stations completely clear of leaves at all times in autumn. Further control and cleaning measures only take place if “special weather conditions” make this necessary. However, according to the court, such weather conditions were not evident on the day on which the plaintiff fell.
The district court’s ruling (Az. 2 O 11053/22) is not yet legally binding.