If you’re a homeowner, then you’re going to want to find yourself a good insurance company for more reasons than one. A good homeowners insurance policy can protect you from occurrences outside of your control (like falling trees and other such acts of nature) that result in physical damage to your property. It can also protect you in the event that somebody gets injured on your property and decides to sue you for damages.
While the specific laws might vary from location to location, homeowners do have a general responsibility to help others avoid injury. In areas where homeowners are responsible for maintaining their sidewalks, it is possible to sue if an injury results from an uneven patch of concrete in front of one’s house. And if the circumstances call for it, then a house guest might end up suing a homeowner if he gets injured as the result of a poorly maintained property. Although it’s fairly easy to see how and why such lawsuits might come about, there have been incidents where people have tried to sue homeowners for injuries sustained while trespassing onto their properties. The question therefore comes to mind: Are you responsible if a person gets hurt on your property when he shouldn’t have been there in the first place?
Robert Dewey of the Dewey Law Firm is a Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury lawyer with more than 30 years of experience under his belt, and according to him, a homeowner will generally not be liable if a trespasser ends up getting injured on his property. The logic is that if a person is breaking the law by setting foot onto somebody else’s property without permission, then he doesn’t have many rights in the event that he gets hurt in the process. While you may be relieved to hear that this is the case, you should also be aware that there are certain exceptions to this rule, especially when small children are involved.
According to Dewey, if you have what’s known in the legal world as an attractive nuisance on your property, then you might end up being held liable in the event that a child gets injured while trespassing. An attractive nuisance is an object on one’s property that is attractive to children yet potentially harmful to them at the same time. A classic example of an attractive nuisance is a backyard swimming pool, though certain types of machinery and even animals can also fall under this category. The logic behind the attractive nuisance laws is that young children cannot be expected to understand the dangers involved in indulging in such attractive property features; therefore, it is a homeowner’s responsibility to take steps to prevent child trespassers from harming themselves. If a homeowner with a swimming pool doesn’t put a fence or any sort of protective barrier around his pool, then he could end up being found liable in the event that a child trespasses, jumps in, and drowns. On the other hand, if a homeowner makes a point of “child-proofing” his property to the most reasonable extent possible, then that changes the extent to which he is liable in the event of injury and tragedy.
While the attractive nuisance laws are designed to protect children from harm, they do not generally apply to adult situations. Therefore, if you happen to own a pool and an adult decides to come over uninvited and go for a dip while you’re away, then you’re far less likely to be held legally accountable in the event that your trespasser drowns. Similarly, if an adult decides to explore your property without permission and ends up tripping over an uneven backyard paver, then he can’t easily sue you to cover the cost of his broken ankle.
Owning a home certainly involves a lot of responsibility, but just because your name happens to be on the deed doesn’t mean that you can fully control the actions of those around you. By taking the proper steps to keep children free of harm, you’ll be doing your part to protect yourself from an unwanted lawsuit – though the purchase of a good insurance policy is also a wise idea.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
