Fliers on Windshield
<p>Recently a flier was placed on my vehicle windshield whilst at work.  I arrived back at my vehicle in the evening and drove away not realising the flier was on there.</p>

<p>While driving the flier blew off the windshield onto another car blocking their vision.  This resulted in an accident.  Am I negligent for not removing the flier, or does negligence lie with the company who placed the flier on the car.</p>

<p><em>One</em> of the things that must be demonstrated in a negligence case is <em>reasonable foreseeability</em> of the harm caused by the act or omission.</p>

<p>Was it reasonably foreseeable to the person who put the flyer under the windscreen wiper that it could fly off, obstruct a third party's vision and cause an accident? Probably not.</p>

<p>Ditto for you as the driver in ignorance of the flyer being there. If you had known and left it there there may be an argument for reasonable foreseeability.</p>

<p>Similarly, the driver who crashed was not negligent.</p>

<p>At common law (road laws may override this) each party would be responsible for the damage to their own and only their own property.</p>

<p>While it is true that putting the flyer on the car started a chain of events that resulted in the accident in a physical sense, it did not in a legal sense.</p>

liability