06-03-2015, 07:48 PM
(06-03-2015, 06:35 PM)Maggot Wrote: Jeb is a career criminal with the same MO being used with a few slight variations. He has been arrested for burglary at least 5 times in his 27 yrs on this earth.
I'm assuming that there's a history of people using the gap to gain entry to the backyard and there was no "keep out sign" posted. If not, then Jeb would in fact qualify as an unanticipated trespasser and the homeowners are much less likely to be deemed liable for his death (regardless as to whether his criminal record was presented in court).
While trespassing laws vary, I found some general cross-state guidelines:
A trespasser is someone who is not authorized to be on the property at issue. Landowners are not obligated to protect trespassers who enter their property without permission, but they cannot willfully injure them. Also, if a landowner knows -- or should know -- that there are frequent trespassers on his/her property, he or she will be liable for any injuries caused by an unsafe condition on the property if:
1) the condition is one the owner created or maintained;
2) the condition was likely to cause death or serious bodily harm;
3) the condition was such that the owner had reason to believe trespassers would not discover it; and,
4) the owner failed to exercise reasonable care to warn trespassers of the condition and the risk presented.
http://realestate.findlaw.com/land-use-l...uries.html
There are a lot of unknown variables in your scenario Mags.
Is there an answer that you're after or did you just make up the scenario for brainstorming purposes?