Legal Question in Personal Injury in Washington

Kids injured during play on my property

I have a fairly long and steep driveway going to my house (all on my land). I just noticed some neighborhood kids are riding their scooters/bikes down the driveway. It's pretty likely one of them will eventually wipe out. What are my legal responsibilities/liabilities in a situation like this? I haven't spoken w/the kids or their parents yet.


Asked on 4/06/09, 8:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Sam Hochberg Sam Hochberg & Associates

Re: Kids injured during play on my property

Probably the safest thing to do legally would be to erect an obvious "No Trespassing" sign on your driveway, and to talk to the kids, in a nice way, that you don't want to see them get hurt there, so they should please play someplace else. Then, try to enforce it, too. You should probably also mention it to their parents, also in a concerned way. I'm sure that quite apart from legal liability, you probably don't want to see some poor kid crack his head open and be seriously injured.

The only other practcial solution I can think of would be to erect some barriers or a gate, in addition to the above, to discourage their use of your property.

Oh, and make sure you carry high limits if liability insurance on that property!

Good luck to you,

Sam

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Answered on 4/06/09, 9:49 pm


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