Legal Question in Personal Injury in New York
Personal Injury Liability
Fourteen years ago, my husband's father died, leaving his five living children heir to fifty acres of unimproved land in Genessee County, New York. The land has been valued at around $5000, all the siblings have an equal share in the land, and taxes on the land are divided evenly among the five. One of the siblings lives in Wisconsin, three live in New York State and one in Texas. In the past several years, one of the brothers has begun allowing his 30-year-old stepson and stepson's friends to go hunting on the land. Alcohol consumption is generally a part of each hunting expedition. Our legal question is, in the event of severe accident or death of any of the involved friends, what would the liability be for each sibling and the spouses involved? I'm not asking about specific monetary values, just whether or not we would all be equally legally liable for civil and/or criminal damages, should some horribly unfortunate accident occur.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Personal Injury Liability
If a case is proven it is against all owners. You are each jointly and severally liable.
Re: Personal Injury Liability
Once you are on notice that a particular type of hazardous conduct is taking place upon your property, you must immediately take steps to prevent its recurrence. If you fail to do so, each owner may be personally liable to persons who are injured on or near the subject property as a result of the misconduct. This may mean that you must go to court to obtain an injunction if you fail to obtain the cooperation of the stepson. One good method to obtain such cooperation is to have the stepson sign a "hold harmless" agreement (whereby he accepts responsibility for any harm that is done) which would also require that the hunting party participants obtain insurance. Even these precautions may not prevent personal liability from extending to the owners if the misconduct continues. If you think that we can be of any further assistance, our contact information is set forth below and on our web site.
Re: Personal Injury Liability
This is a good question. It often appear on Law School eaminations.
The answer is easy: the 'hunter/drunkards will have no claim against you because they have 'accepted' responsibility by voluntarily participating in this activity.
Any other person on the land without proper permission does have a claim against all of the owners of the land for any intentional crazy stuff that goes on with the knowledge or permission of any of the owners ot his/her agent.
Any person on the land with permission, but no knowledge of these goings-on would have a claim for negligent behavior.
You are welcome to discuss this matter with me for no charge at my offices at 42 west 44th street, New York, NY. Please call for an appointment first (646) 591-5786.
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