I recently moved to Orange County NY, and between my father, sister and I, we have about 62 acres of property of which to ride on. More if you include my neighbor who has given me permission to ride a section of his property. It's not a huge amount, but in lower NYS, as I'm certain you are all aware, riding land is difficult to come by. Anyway, my question is I want to allow people to ride my property, but am concerned of what liability I may be openning up myself to. I recently heard a horror story of a man who after graciously allowing persons to hunt on his property got sued when one man accidently shot another.

 

Good question..I wish I could help

I do know that a few lawyers are registered on here(they could fill you in).......good luck

 

Tx, what I am finding out is that they're are alot of "get of my land" ***** around me. I don't want to be like that, I want to allow passage through, but I also don't want to make my family liable.

 

I have a waiver form that everybody must sign (even relatives) before they are allowed to ride on my property. This form was prepared by a lawyer in my state. Also make sure you have adequate property insurance too...

 

I say rough up some dirt about 3 feet by 7 feet in size at the start of the trails. Place a sign there marking the spot as the final resting place of the last person who did something stupid and then suggested that suing the land owner over it was a good idea. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I don't know NY laws, but where I live if you invite them to ride on your land, or don't properly post your land to keep people aware they're trespassing and breaking the law by riding on your land, you're taking responsibility for their welfare. Even having invited riders sign waivers indemnifying you means little when someone sues you for injuries suffered from 'your' negligence in maintaining your property. While good intent is a warm and fuzzy feeling, shark lawyers going after you, your property and insurance is the reality of little Johnnie or a family breadwinner ending up crippled or brain dead riding on your property.

It's a simple matter to have excess liability added to your insurance coverage for surprisingly little money ($2M costs me about $450/yr), but be certain it doesn't exclude unlicensed motor vehicle activity (ATVs/dirt bikes/sand rails) or persons unintentionally endangering themselves while engaged in leisure activities of a dangerous nature. I strongly recommend you sit down with your regular lawyer and explain your concerns to him/her for a written opinion and make your decision based on sound legal advice. The US is the most litigious country on the planet and when seriously injured people look to the most convenient pocket for compensation it could be yours.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Very helpful.

 

We have everyone sign a waiver to ride on our property .........

The thing is that the waiver cannot stop anyone from trying to sue you, they can always try.

All the waiver does in protect you in the sense that a judge is likely to toss out the case when it is presented. In most cases as long as the person suing knew they were taking their life into their own hands (by admission in their signature) they won't win.

In our case since we are moving towards opening our land as an ATV Riding Park for the public, we would be subject to even further waivers as well as maintaining a safe and liable riding environment. We will need to inspect the vehicles that people bring as well as the trails on a daily basis to be sure they are safe and well marked.

One word of caution, if you do not know the person ask to see ID to verify the signature is the person. I heard a story of a guy up near Watertown who got sued because a Snowmobile rider lost his leg on his property. The rider signed a fake name on the waiver and on that technicality the judge would not dismiss, the land owner ended up shelling out a good chunk of cash through his insurance.........

 

Originally posted by ss97: We have everyone sign a waiver to ride on our property .........

The thing is that the waiver cannot stop anyone from trying to sue you, they can always try.

All the waiver does in protect you in the sense that a judge is likely to toss out the case when it is presented. In most cases as long as the person suing knew they were taking their life into their own hands (by admission in their signature) they won't win.

In our case since we are moving towards opening our land as an ATV Riding Park for the public, we would be subject to even further waivers as well as maintaining a safe and liable riding environment. We will need to inspect the vehicles that people bring as well as the trails on a daily basis to be sure they are safe and well marked.

One word of caution, if you do not know the person ask to see ID to verify the signature is the person. I heard a story of a guy up near Watertown who got sued because a Snowmobile rider lost his leg on his property. The rider signed a fake name on the waiver and on that technicality the judge would not dismiss, the land owner ended up shelling out a good chunk of cash through his insurance.........


I think the key take away here is his insurance paid.....don't be caught without it......

 

I have also heard that if your health insurance pays for your medical bills that the insurance company can go after the landowner to recoup costs. Not sure how true it is but that would certainly render any waiver null and void.