Many times, when people are hurt on someone else’s property, they are already invited guests. For instance, you could tell your neighbor to come inside, but they may slip and fall on the icy steps. These accidents also happen in public places where you may not be a guest, but you’re allowed to be all the same. An example would be slipping and falling on the wet floor in a grocery store.
But there are other times when uninvited guests enter a homeowner’s property without your permission. This is trespassing, but there are still ways that they can be liable for the injuries that someone suffers while trespassing on the property. One way that this can happen is if they have an attractive nuisance and the person in question is a child.
The pool example
An attractive nuisance is basically just something dangerous that is also attractive to children. Perhaps the most common example of this is a swimming pool. It can be very dangerous and even deadly, especially if curious young children fall into it without supervision, but pools are also well-known to attract children and draw them to that location. This increases their risk of injury.
If a homeowner does not take proper steps to protect the child from this decision, they cannot necessarily use the fact that the child was trespassing as an excuse. They have to understand that the child doesn’t know what trespassing is, doesn’t know where the property lines are and doesn’t even fully grasp the danger that they’re walking into.
For a pool, a common solution is that homeowners need to put up fences with locking gates. When the fence surrounds the pool, this can help to remove the homeowner from potential liability – although they could still be liable if the gate is defective, if it isn’t locked, etc.
Do you deserve compensation?
If your child has been hurt on someone else’s property and you believe they didn’t take enough steps to keep that child safe, then you need to know how you can seek financial compensation.