Attractive Nuisances

Under attractive nuisance law, landowners may be held liable for injuries sustained by children on their property even if children trespass and enter the property despite fencing and some other deterrents. The law can be applied to any type of property, including cars, swimming pools and construction areas, and any type of injury to the child. The premise of the attractive nuisance doctrine is that children cannot fully comprehend the dangers they encounter, and a property owner who maintains dangerous conditions on a property and knows that children might come into contact with it has a heightened responsibility to protect those children.

Usually, to file a claim using attractive nuisances doctrine, the trespass and the injury must be foreseeable, and the property owner must still fail to take precautions.

To be liable for injury to a child, five conditions must be met:

The property is such that the owner knows children might trespass,
There are conditions on the property that could result in injury or death to a child,
The children will not understand the danger before they come in contact with it,
The burden to the property owner is not so great compared to the risk the children face,
The property owner fails to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or otherwise protect the children.

All of these conditions are open to some interpretation, so having good legal representation is important. For example, putting up a fence may or may not meet the fifth condition. What kind of fence is it? How easy is it for children to crawl under or over?

Every case is up to the court, however, and you should contact a personal injury attorney in order to understand your rights and options.

Recent attractive nuisance cases include one in which a boy drowned in a backyard swimming pool. The pool was not fenced in any way, and contained no “no trespassing” signs. His mother also drowned attempting to rescue him. In a case such as this, attractive nuisance law can also hold the property owner responsible for the injury or death to the adult.

To decrease your risk of liability, install rescue devices, put shields and protective devices on all machinery and equipment, inform the parents of neighborhood children of the risks, install alert devices near the dangers, and store dangerous equipment and substances in locked buildings.

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Attractive Nuisances Under attractive nuisance law, landowners may be held liable for injuries sustained by children on their property even if children trespass and enter the property despite fencing and some other deterrents. The law can be applied to any type of property, including cars, swimming pools and construction areas, and any type of injury to the child. The premise of the attractive nuisance doctrine is that children cannot fully comprehend the dangers they encounter, and a property owner who maintains dangerous conditions on a property and knows that children might come into contact with it has a heightened responsibility to protect those children. Usually, to file a claim using attractive nuisances doctrine, the trespass and the injury must be foreseeable, and the property owner must still fail to take precautions. To be liable for injury to a child, five conditions must be met: The property is such that the owner knows children might trespass, There are conditions on the property that could result in injury or death to a child, The children will not understand the danger before they come in contact with it, The burden to the property owner is not so great compared to the risk the children face, The property owner fails to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or otherwise protect the children. All of these conditions are open to some interpretation, so having good legal representation is important. For example, putting up a fence may or may not meet the fifth condition. What kind of fence is it? How easy is it for children to crawl under or over? Every case is up to the court, however, and you should contact a personal injury attorney in order to understand your rights and options. Recent attractive nuisance cases include one in which a boy drowned in a backyard swimming pool. The pool was not fenced in any way, and contained no “no trespassing” signs. His mother also drowned attempting to rescue him. In a case such as this, attractive nuisance law can also hold the property owner responsible for the injury or death to the adult. To decrease your risk of liability, install rescue devices, put shields and protective devices on all machinery and equipment, inform the parents of neighborhood children of the risks, install alert devices near the dangers, and store dangerous equipment and substances in locked buildings.