I would call the sheriff's office and demand she and her cohorts be charged with trespassing.

I would never allow anyone to be on my property without expressed written permission and would have no trespassing signage everywhere.

 

All private property in our state is Posted; no signs needed::: they also have had blanket permission to use ea others property

 

Cringe. If they had permission to use the property with no restrictions and no insurance, they better plan on writing some big checks.

 

Thats what we are afraid of..Our friends are in the 150,000 a yr income wise…He also has a patented invention that is being bid on..over a mil was the latest bid he rejected…
I think they are screwed but they are close friends and Im not saying that to them-and we need to know more yet🙈

 

written permission is required in our state..otherwise...any conversation of lawsuits starts with me saying "back up to the part where they were trespassing on my property?"

 

Again, they werent trespassing…

 

They need to get ahead of it as much as they can. Get legal advice on the laws for the state and local county. There’s NO way I would allow non family teens on my property on ATVs. This is why. There is no personal responsibility anymore when people do stupid things. It’s always someone else’s fault. Key questions to clarify - was she wearing proper safety gear? If not they may have to counter with she was operating negligently. It’s a 💩 situation sometimes when being the nice guy will get you burned.

 

The Situation: Two families, both from the same small area of La, one lives here now, own adjoining property's..Both successful professional’s, friends for years.. share equipment, trails, woods, beaches on the creek..The one family’s kids and guests have roamed those woods for years…Now a guest of one family has been injured doing what they’ve always done…I agree it should not have been allowed…Now a girl is badly, probably permanently, injured/disfigured…
Ive never allowed visitors on my place so Im not making any changes except reenforcing my rules but my friends have a situation…and it could be bad…Anyone else dealt with such?

 

The one family’s kids and guests have roamed those woods for years…Now a guest of one family has been injured doing what they’ve always done…I agree it should not have been allowed

I think the key here is that the guest was not given permission, just the adjacent property owners. Now sure how good their relationship is, but the third part (young girl/family) would be my target for trespassing without specified permission or supervision. I hate, hate, hate people who lack any oversight or accountability and attempt to sue over something like this.

ROCK6

 

As a real estate investor I can tell you that the lawsuit is legitimate and could move forward even though it was clearly trespassing.

For those of you that own land like this......here are the rules to protect yourself.

1. Every driveway, trail, or path leading into and out of your property must have a locked gate (regardless if you can simply walk around it or not).
2. Posted clearly on those gates must be no trespassing signs and no hunting signs.
3. If the property is too wide where you cannot see a gate you should post signs on trees to the similar.
4. If you have downed fences repair or patch them
5. Put up trail cameras
6. Take pictures of every single sign you have posted.
7. Put "Crimestoppers" signs from the local office around the properyy
8. Never, ever, EVER put land in you personal name...... the correct order for this is that the property is put in a "Land Trust" managed by an LLC out of state.
9. Use trail cameras at points of entry and then file a criminal complaint with the police when people break the law.

The burden of proof will be in the land owner to prove you made effort to make people aware you are not allowed on the property.

Sadly things should not be this way but they are........my wife and I see scams like this at least a couple of times a year.

Last week we were threatened with a lawsuit if we did not pay $19K to the people that broke a pipe in the apartment below us.....and tried to blame it on our unit above. This was clearly an insurance fraud claim because we maintained excellent records and actually have a voicemail from the people below said they found the issue and the damage was not from above.......then several months later filed the false claim.

In the end....what did this cost us......2 days worth of time an a $500 letter from our attorney telling the dirtbag insurance adjuster and the owners they are committing fraud.

HK

 

8. Never, ever, EVER put land in you personal name...... the correct order for this is that the property is put in a "Land Trust" managed by an LLC out of state.

Why does it need to be out of state?

 

In the State of Missouri, you have to be 16 to operate an ATV. Then full safety equipment must be worn e.g. helmets, face shield or goggles, sturdy shoes and gloves.

Of course, nobody listens.

 

No I don’t let anyone on any of my property without me being there. All of it is either gated or has a ditch deep and wet enough it would be difficult/impossible for a motorized vehicle to enter.

 

I was advised by my lawyer to take out property insurance after I bought our land even though we didn't build on it for two years. I took his advise.

 

As a business owner and landlord I am telling you the cost of insurance is simply staggering........

People are whining about rental rates skyrocketing.......much of this directly affected by insurance rates.......rental property insurance going as much as $600/per year but that is in fact year over year....... so those rent increases of $120/month on renewals are largely a result of insurance fraud and scams.

Grifters of Society and the Demons (Lawyers) know exactly how to work the insurance companies and directly target the unprotected homeowners.

It's pretty staggering to see how much society has fallen in the last 10 years......but the absolute lawlessness that we are seeing in this country right now reaches every single corner and costs everyone of us money like it or not.

HK

 

I only have ten acres, most of it hillside and in 30 years I have only allowed one person on it, a (platonic) female LE friend who lives below me and rides horses. Always been a good friend and she is welcome anytime. No one else.

 

I don't allow people on my property, properly posted, no gates but I have half a dozen cattle panels maybe need to consider. Also have a very large umbrella policy that I don't tell anyone about.

 

I would never allow someone to be in my property because many people dont deserve kindness, they will perceive your kindness as weakness. If you let them take one step into your land today, they will enter 10 steps tomorrow, 50 the other day and eventually there will be a big problem.

 

In Maine, if you get hurt on someone else' property you can only sue if you were working for them.

We allow folks to come onto our land to forage and pick wild foods, as well as to run trap-lines for coyote and bobcat, and bait stations for bear. I am not concerned about the liability.

 

One of the first things I thought about was our Landowner Liability Law. Good protection for landowners who allow access their property.

 

and re-reading the OP.... 14 yr old on a machine by herself...also against the law...so ,again, not sure where the landowner is responsible

 

There's an old saying that goes "good fences make good neighbors".

I live by that. Stay off mine and I'll stay off yours.

 

Probably best to talk to an attorney. My understanding is to post no trespassing signs can alleviate much of the issue

This segway's into another issue protecting and limiting liability and the best ways is to form a trust or several of them

In terms of a lawsuit not enough info, who owns the 4 wheeler, did the 14 yr old have permission from the owner and her parents to ride the 4 wheeler, did she have training and experience on a 4 wheeler?

 

My first step after buying my ranch was to get an insurance policy that covers liability. Kids do not respect private property, do not obey signs, and are not careful. I dont give them permission, but I fully expect they will screw around on my land, behind my back. "Hold my beer" is how the landowner looses everything.

 

Since we have a State stocked trout stream flowing through our property, we have to let people fish through, but only right down at the creek. I don't ever say much as long as they stick to the bank, but over the years have had to chase a few away from encroaching further into the property. We have a picnic pavilion down there and once or twice I've chased people out of there who thought they had the perfect right to hang out in the pavilion.

One group I chased out of there about ten years ago, got a little pissy about it and said they've had permission to use it for years. Thing is I never gave anyone permission, and we have been here for 23 years, LOL.

Just in case, I do have a large liability coverage on the homeowners policy.

 

Update: The guy who sponsored the girl has concluded-after careful measuring-the girl was over the property lne on his place when the accident occured so his policy covers the event…Big Sigh and my buddy has already contacted his guy for a liability policy..
Can you say Wake Up Call?

 

I am retired and living on a ranch. Still raise some livestock and bale some grass hay, but not really a serious farmer or rancher.

My Farm Bureau agent found me a homeowners policy that covers limited farming activity, that includes $2 million liability.

Glad the property owner in this cases is now acting to protect themselves. Lots of folks will take advantage of those with means.

 

I'll bet the family of the injured girl are already getting calls from personal liability attorneys.
Even though it may be "relations" or "close friends", once those attorney sharks start working on the "victims", people will do anything.

I had a friend whose 18 year old son was killed in a car accident, while riding with some other teens (he wasn't the driver).

The very next day---even before they had the funeral, and were just starting on the arrangements---they were already getting bombarded with calls from attorneys.

The legal profession in this country, especially civil liability lawyers, is sleazy and opportunistic beyond belief.

 

someone should explain to the girls parents, that the liability really lies in whomever put the girl on a four wheeler. provided the machine and whatever direction she got or did not get, observed her cababiltiies and decided she was good to go. if the claim is the property owner did something that should make them liable, someone has to have some idea of what that is, no? I think they are just blustering and upset because the girl got hurt, which is understandable. If the neighbor is in the girls parents ear about some story for the abutter to have some liability, so they are not held responsible, and they probably are ... I'm not a legal expert and common sense doesn't always apply, but come on. The property owner didn't provide the ATV, Safety equipment, training etc. did they? Decide the girl was competent and safe to operate the machine? I don't know, seems cut and dry to me - the girls parents have an issue to take up with whomever was the guardian of that girl on that day, and who's care she was under. Was there something wrong with the trails? Could they claim some trail maintenance was not done? Was the girl in a line of riders? I just can't see it, whoever was leading the riders is responsible first. Then whomever was the adult assigned to the girl on that day. Then to her parents for letter her go there, and assigning whatever guardian she had that day to watch her. Seems to cut and dry to me, I'd just check it with a local lawyer, and have them write a letter saying any legal action would be considered harassment or terrorism, or some legal threat that says the property owner isn't playing. But, if you did that, the local lawyer would probably be able to direct the property owner what to say or not say, or any of that just to help stay out of the parents hellfire. I've had a few good lawyers give me advice a few times. The anwer or best action is not always obvious at all to anyone who isn't a lawer. Stay out of it in any way humanly possible is my take.

 

What you are saying makes total sense and then there is the reality.........doesn't make a difference whether is was a splinter or a loss of life.....the way the court is going to see it is that the owner was negligent in securing his property.

It's going to be costly for the land owner regardless.......just starting off with the fact that a good attorney is $450/hour and paralegals are $250/hour. Retainers in cases like this range from $10-25K to start.....the slip and fall demons know how to play that game.......they just break you by consuming your bank account in legal fee's hoping that you will settle.

If there is no pending litigation in writing.....I suggest you quickly deed this to a trust with a really sharp real estate attorney.

HK

 

Kids will be kids. My brother was with 20 children when they came upon a huge dirt pile and started to throw dirt clods at each other. One got hurt and filed a lawsuit against every family. That was the 70's and it's only worse now.

Heaven forbid someone get hurt on your property.