October 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 37

Obvious Tree Hazard on Park
Sledding Hill

L AW REVIEW

BY JAMES C. KOZLOWSKI, J.D., PH.D.

U

NDER TRADITIONAL PRINCIPLES of landowner liability for negligence, the landowner

generally owes a legal duty to guard, warn or make the premises reasonably safe for use by
invitees. Invitees are those invited or encouraged to enter the premises for a particular public or business purpose, e.g., recreational use of a public park.
warn against open and obvious natural hazards.
In most instances, such natural hazards come
with the territory, and recreational users, looking
out reasonably for their own safety, should be able
to avoid or protect themselves against such open
and obvious dangers on the premises.
Although a landowner generally has no duty to
protect invitees against open and obvious natural
hazards on the premises, under what is sometimes
referred to as the " distraction theory, " a landowner
may still have a duty to guard or warn against an
otherwise open and obvious hazard under limited circumstances where the landowner knows
or should know that invitees will become " distracted " and unable to avoid or protect themselves
against an otherwise open and obvious hazard
on the premises.

DREAMSTIME

To make the premises reasonably safe for invitees, a landowner must inspect and repair or remove
known or discoverable hazards within a reasonable
time. In the alternative and/or where it is impossible or impractical to repair or remove known or
discoverable hazards on the premises, a landowner
may be required to provide an adequate warning
of hazards on the premises. An adequate warning
takes a hazard which is known by the landowner
and communicates the general scope of the risk to
the recreational user through the reasonable use of
the recreational user's senses. Conversely, there is
generally no legal duty to warn invitees of hazardous conditions which are already either known or
obvious through the reasonable use of one's senses.
Accordingly, within the context of landowner
liability, there is generally no legal duty to guard or

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Parks & Recreation

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October 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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