If I build ramps & some kid gets hurt, will I get sued?

PB Forum :: Trail Building
If I build ramps & some kid gets hurt, will I get sued?
Author Message
flag nanlrider
Posted: Jul 12, 2009 at 21:34 Quote
if its your land, then they are tresspassing, so i dont reckon they have the right to sue you, as they had no right being there in the first place. dunno if Google has the answers but they might have something on liability tresspassing etc issues.
BUT if its not your property then you can be liable, these days the courts are bugger all, you can sue McDonalds for a Happy Meal that didnt make you happy... true story
flag georgep1993
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 10:30 Quote
robbie7127 wrote:
georgep1993 wrote:
Asked ma dad who asked a lawyer, they get cases like this all the time and never does the kid win, every time the judge basically tells them its there own fault and then have to pay u a lil bit for wasting your time Smile

What a pile of balony, IF someone gets injured, and takes legal action then all it takes is a judge who interperts the law a given way and you have a landmark case, dont believe me? Why do you think all McDonalds coffee cups have "caution contents may be hot" on them? Because a woman sued and got a multi million dollar payout because she scalded herself on said coffee and as there were no specific warnings that the contents may be hot she won.

I agree in the UK (where I went to law school) the 'minor" courts (magistrate and crown) would possibly throw the case out, however all it takes in an appeal on point of law and a higher court would overturn the verdict and find for the kid (as the law both in the UK and North America is similar) the law on Negligence is very clear, and all that needs to be proven is that someone didnt mitigate the possibility of injury occuring. Trust me if a lawyer can convince a court that a woman didn't expect a fresh coffee to be hot then they can (and do all the time) convince a court that a child hitting a double didn't know they may crash and get injured.


When i said this i meant if you had signs up saying "caution" etc, these are dangerous which we had said before
flag Joshwa93
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 10:49 Quote
if they sue you, yes?


Pirate
flag downhill1409
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 10:59 Quote
put a sign up saying "ride at your own risk"
flag BigRidah
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 11:02 Quote
Just put a sign up saying ride at your own risk, or, dose this feature math your skill level? Something to warn them,
flag thecolonnadekid
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 11:17 Quote
if they are on your land then theyre trespassing and its theyre fault.
flag Irishrogue
O+
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 12:09 Quote
I'm a dirtbag mountain biker whom pays for my bikes by being a trial lawyer in beautiful BC (You can see Silver Star from our office). Here's my quick answer to the question. It's not a "legal opinion" but rather friendly information from one guy that has built ramps to another guy building.

Here in BC at least you can only be successfully sued if you do something wrong. This can mean you do something you shouldn't have, like building without the owner's permission. Or it can also mean that you didn't do something you should have, like live up to your end of a contract, for example if you were hired to build ramps to certain specifications.

So in order for somebody to actually tag you with anything they have to prove that you screwed up. I think this would be pretty hard to do in the circumstances set out in the original post.

There are a couple of other hurdles anyone suing you would have to get over as well but I'm not going to go into them. I am familiar with the McDonalds coffee case from California- the trial decision is world famous- but almost no one has heard about the appeal decision which changed the award...

Of course there is always a risk, but the risk is pretty small. If you can live with the very, very small risk go build some nice ramps. Salute
flag cannondale4567
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 12:12 Quote
Hummeroid wrote:
And for the love of god man, use spellcheck!


Lol, this is something I've never understood. Incorrect spelling is inexcusable on this site. The little red line under the word you 12 year old's just typed, yes, that means something........it means YOU SPELLED THE WORD INCORRECTLY! Keep trying until you get it right! Lol
flag Evbomby
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 12:49 Quote
Rythm-Rider wrote:
nope they cant prooove that you built them

You got me.

*Sigh*
flag lukaszkrolak
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 13:10 Quote
yes, if you build ramps and kids get hurt you are liable. You will have to have each child's parent sign a waiver that should be detailed in the description of all the things that they would agree not to hold you responsible for. Yet even then you may run into some problems, after all, kids may trespass into the property and get hurt when you are not there. The bottom line, if you build it on your property, you are responsible for any kind of injury.
flag lukaszkrolak
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 13:12 Quote
well the land owner will get sued, so if you build them on his property it would be his liability issue.
flag ridedob
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 13:12 Quote
lukaszkrolak wrote:
yes, if you build ramps and kids get hurt you are liable. You will have to have each child's parent sign a waiver that should be detailed in the description of all the things that they would agree not to hold you responsible for. Yet even then you may run into some problems, after all, kids may trespass into the property and get hurt when you are not there. The bottom line, if you build it on your property, you are responsible for any kind of injury.

its not on mine its on some else's and they said we could build them there. and id rather not make a wavier id rather no one ride them but my group
flag lukaszkrolak
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 13:16 Quote
you should be fine, afterall you wouldnt have to deal with any legal stuff, it would be the owner
flag thecolonnadekid
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 13:24 Quote
why can somebody trespass on your land without your permission and then sue you when you dont want them on your land and didnt allow them on your land?
flag Mazekwon
Posted: Jul 13, 2009 at 13:28 Quote
thecollonadekid wrote:
why can somebody trespass on your land without your permission and then sue you when you dont want them on your land and didnt allow them on your land?
oh americans...our juidical system is just as effed as yours but in other dirrections.

 


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