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Based on my experience, you must have a "No tresspassing" sign posted. That only gives you the right to have someone arrested for tresspassing. It in no way elliminates you from liability even if trespassing occurs. The land owner will be liable for any injury, but either of you can press charges for trespassing, but you must be able to prove it or catch them in the act.
I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I thought that in general, property owners weren't liable for trespassing injuries unless they have what is considered to be an "attractive nuisance" , such as a pool, and the trespassers are children. That said, it's still a situation better avoided in the first place.
According to Wiki the following must be present for the property owner to be liable:
The place where the condition exists is one on which the possessor knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass, and
The condition is one of which the possessor knows or has reason to know and which he realizes or should realize will involve an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily harm to such children,
The children, because of their youth, do not discover the condition or realize the risk involved in inter-meddling with it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it
The utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition and the burden of eliminating the danger are slight as compared with the risk to children involved, and
The possessor fails to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or otherwise to protect the children
I agree with the OP, I have always been taught that if a person has even one foot on someone else's property, the owner of the property is liable if that person is injured.
How about those fake cameras that look like they are video cameras? Or, a large sign warning of poison ivy (even if none exists?) Solar motion detector lights?
OR...a large, very loud dog. The dog would probably get along well with the horses and would certainly alarm anyone coming on the property...
Horses are considered an "attractive nuisance," so I already have my guard up. According to every insurance agent I've dealt with across MI and OH, despite having precautions with no trespassing, a trespasser can still file suit if injured while in the act of trespassing. MI, fortunately, has a law that protects the land owner if the trespasser actually passes through a locked gate, but I'm not sure if NC does.
Some of the ideas my husband and I have already agreed with - posting the property more obnoxiously so that the act of trespassing absolutely cannot be mistaken, putting padlocks on the gates (the land owners originally asked us not to, so we didn't), creating a cable-type gate across the main point of entrance that any trespasser would have to consciously walk over, through, or under to eliminate the possibility of doubt, and investing in the motion activated cameras hunters use that we can provide proof should this happen again.
Oh, and the property is LOADED is poison ivy - a nuisance for me, but a real nuisance for someone exposed to it without realizing it (as a young teenager wearing nothing but flip flops and swim wear might have been ...).
Speaking as someone who trespassed plenty as a youth, I would post the signs and talk to their parents befoe getting the fuzz involved. When you're bored you sometimes do stupid stuff without meaning any real harm.
I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I thought that in general, property owners weren't liable for trespassing injuries unless they have what is considered to be an "attractive nuisance" , such as a pool, and the trespassers are children. That said, it's still a situation better avoided in the first place.
You could be liable regardless. We had a tract of timber that we manged a long time ago. Instead of a gate there was steel cable like I'm sure you've seen 100 times before. One night a guy on 4 wheeler decided to go in the property at full speed w/o seeing the cable. Needless to say his family got a very bad call from the police that night. After a quick 24 hr period of mourning they had contacted a lawyer (you know theone with the biggest ad in the yellow pages). A nice settlement check later everything was over. Obviously we only used gates after that painted in hi vis orange.
Sadly in our country you can never fix STUPID.
To the OP in addition to the signs,if you see them again you may want to "Ban" them from the property. In a nice way simply say you are banned from entering the property. Otherwise trespassing cases are very hard.
While I sympathize with allowing young people to have access to horses / nature, etc, that is not an option on this situation. I don't have time, and truly this is a bad time in my life, not to mention the liability should something happen even under my supervision. There is a nice boarding/lessons stable within miles, and Latta Plantation is literally 5 miles away - both of which offer hands on horse experience commercially. She has other options.
The property is posted, but not extremely visible. That will change this evening and no trespassing will be very visible.
I dont even have horses, we own just an acre on a corner, the whole street has become nothing but rentals.4 houses, 12 trailers(nothing against nice people who rent and pay their bills, hey- i was a renter for quite a while), point being- the occupants are doing whatever, and send their children out of the house and they come to the end of the road and hang out in our front yard as well as back behind my garage, where i have a camera. I just asked them what they were doing there today and they laughed at me when i suggested they leave, the only reason why i caught them(my camera wire has a slit in it , dont know how that might've happened?! i'm waiting for hubs to fix it. ) is they were hootin and hollerin so loud and one of them said " oh no- im gonna sue." So you know i had to go & see if they were okay. i called the sheriffs office and they said to post a no tresspass sign then i can have them arrested. I have spoken to them 2 other times to no avail. they were with their teenage boyfriends once. My husband works all different hours and we only have 1 car, so they think i;m not home, i feel like firing a shot in the air to get my point across but i'm afraid i will forget to point the gun upwards....if i talk to them like the maniac i know i can become when i'm really angry i'm afraid i will rip every hair out of their heads. i also dont want to be too blunt and have them throw the rocks they were throwing today through one of my windows,or something even worse . guess i shouldnt have picked a corner house.they may be bored, but i am not gonna be responsible for providing them a place to hang out. the thing that gets me is i formely lived on the edge of a not so good neighborhood across a very busy street from a H.S. and a junior high and no one did this!!! they just threw their trash on our grass. Now we live in the "country" and i'm dealing with this. i can imagine how you feel, especially with the added allure of beautiful horses to attract them....
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According to every insurance agent I've dealt with across MI and OH, despite having precautions with no trespassing, a trespasser can still file suit if injured while in the act of trespassing. MI, fortunately, has a law that protects the land owner if the trespasser actually passes through a locked gate, but I'm not sure if NC does.
i'm afraid i will rip every hair out of their heads.
i also dont want to be too blunt and have them throw the rocks they were throwing today through one of my windows,or something even worse . guess i shouldnt have picked a corner house.they may be bored, but i am not gonna be responsible for providing them a place to hang out. the thing that gets me is i formely lived on the edge of a not so good neighborhood across a very busy street from a H.S. and a junior high and no one did this!!! they just threw their trash on our grass. Now we live in the "country" and i'm dealing with this. i can imagine how you feel, especially with the added allure of beautiful horses to attract them....
