Can you be held liable if someone gets hurt on your property?
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Can you be held liable if someone gets hurt on your property?
My son broke his arm while riding an ATV on someone else’s property. It was caused by his own bad judgement. Can the owner be held liable?
Asked on November 13, 2011 under Personal Injury, Tennessee
Answers:
MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
In this situation, the only time an owner of a property would be liable to your son even partially is if your negligent statutes or case law allow for co-liability if the owner created some sort of a hazard (like placing something in the pathway that would cause tires to blow or ATVs to flip). The absolute defense to such action anyway would be assumption of the risk. If your son was a trespasser, it would make no difference as he broke the law. If your son was invited on the property and the owner did not create hazards on the property or warned the driver of particular hazards, the owner would still not be held liable. The affirmative defense here would be that your son assumed the risk by riding a hazardous vehicle and being involved in a hazardous activity.
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