An occupier of a pedestrian thoroughfare owes a duty to alleviate the foreseeable risk of head injuries from fixed objects protruding at head height, even where the risk primarily materialises through pedestrian inadvertence; the erection of a simple guardrail or placement of an obstacle may be required. A pedestrian who walks into a fixed object while looking down at a mobile phone may bear 50% contributory negligence. Where a three-judge appellate court is divided three ways, the dissenting judge may address an issue on the assumption that his or her conclusion on a logically anterior issue is wrong, in order to produce a majority for orders.
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