Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm not sure if this would be an okay board to put this question on, so I apologize if it's not.
If someone is trespassing on your property with their atv and gets hurt doing so is the homeowner liable? We are in Johnston County if that helps. I'm not sure where I should look to find that information.
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 10-08-2011 at 05:40 PM..
Reason: No unsolicited recommendations, please
If someone is trespassing (or even breaking and entering) on your property (with their atv or anything else) and gets hurt doing so is the homeowner liable?
When you say liable... that gets into what the final score will be at the end of the game. The larger and quite real issue is whether this person can force you into playing that (courts, lawyers, lawsuits) game at all.
And yes, they very often can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by overlawyered
In other words, a burglar fell through a skylight, and blamed the skylight’s owners for his injuries; because the law permits such suits, and because the law does not compensate defendants for successful defenses...
If your property has nice cleared trails suitable for atv use that could be construed as an "attractive nuisance" (like a swimming pool is) or you know of a special risk (like an unmarked 30 foot drop off on that trail)... the property owners can be expected to take reasonable measures to prevent exposure to these.
Quote:
Originally Posted by enotes
Surprising to many homeowners is the fact that a duty is also owed to those without permission to be on the premises. A trespasser is a person who enters the premises of another without express or implied permission of the owner, for the trespasser's own benefit or amusement. The duty of the owner to a trespasser is not to prepare pitfalls or traps for the trespasser nor to injure the trespasser purposely. Once the owner is aware of the trespasser's presence or can reasonably anticipate such presence from the circumstances, (EVIDENCE of skateboarders in an unfinished swimming pool would fall into this category) then the owner has a duty to exercise ordinary care to avoid injuring the trespasser.
We don't have any cleared trails, it's just woodsy properties, we've maintained just over half of our property and left the rest as natural, which also means there are natural hazards.
NC has some pretty good homeowner oriented laws. Specifically, if someone injures themselves on your property they must be able to prove that you knew about the problem (ie loose step) and you did nothing to fix it. You can't just trip on grass and sue (and win) in NC. To your question, I really don't know, maybe try contacting a lawyer. You could even pretend you were the one on the ATV to get the other side of it, the lawyer might offer up more info for free at that point (thinking he'd have a case).
Also, some well posted "No trespassing" signs probably go a long way as well.
As wheels up said... some well posted "No trespassing" signs probably go a long way as well.
And maybe even a string or two of barbed wire where they cross in.
If you use a string or barbed wire then it must be visible to the trespasser or else you can be liable for their injuries, as long as it is posted that you have installed barb wire or string and they are displayed on the trail/route/land.
Hope so too, that's why I posted about making them visible. Happened in the past where we were riding and someone had strung a barb wire across a public trail and if it wasn't for our leader seeing it prior, some major damage could have happen.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
