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REFERENCE TITLE: limited liability; trespassers |
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State of Arizona Senate Fiftieth Legislature Second Regular Session 2012
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SB 1410 |
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Introduced by Senator Gould
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AN ACT
amending title 12, chapter 5, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 12-557; relating to limitations of actions.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 12, chapter 5, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 12-557, to read:
12-557. Possessors of land; limited liability for trespasser harm; exceptions; applicability; definition
A. A possessor of real property, including an owner, lessee, renter or other occupant, does not owe a duty of care to a trespasser except to refrain from causing willful or wanton injury. A possessor of property may use justifiable force or deadly force pursuant to title 13, chapter 4.
B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section:
1. A possessor of real property who knows, or from facts within the possessor's knowledge should know, that trespassers constantly intrude on a limited area of the possessor's property is liable for physical injury to or death of a trespasser that is caused by the possessor's failure to carry on an activity involving a risk of death or serious bodily harm with reasonable care for the trespasser's safety.
2. A possessor of real property who knows, or from facts within the possessor's knowledge should know, that trespassers constantly intrude on a limited area of the possessor's property is liable for physical injury or death caused to a trespasser by an artificial condition on the property if all of the following apply:
(a) The artificial condition is one which the possessor created or maintains.
(b) The possessor knew the artificial condition was likely to cause death or serious bodily injury to a trespasser.
(c) The artificial condition was of such nature that the possessor had reason to believe that a trespasser would not discover it.
(d) The possessor failed to exercise reasonable care to warn trespassers of the condition and the risk involved.
3. A possessor of real property who knows or has reason to know of the presence of a trespasser on the property is liable for physical injury or death caused to a trespasser by the possessor's failure to carry on activities on the property with reasonable care for the trespasser's safety.
4. A possessor of real property who maintains an artificial condition that involves a risk of death or serious bodily harm to persons coming in contact with it is liable for physical injury or death caused to a trespasser by the possessor's failure to exercise reasonable care to warn the trespasser of the condition if both of the following apply:
(a) The possessor knows or has reason to know of the trespasser's presence in dangerous proximity to the condition.
(b) The condition was of such nature that the possessor had reason to believe that the trespasser would not discover the condition or realize the risk involved.
5. A possessor of real property who is in immediate control of a force and who knows or has reason to know of the presence of A trespasser in dangerous proximity to the force is liable for physical injury to or death of THE trespasser caused by the possessor's failure to exercise reasonable care to do either of the following:
(a) Control the force so as to prevent it from harming the trespasser.
(b) Give a warning that was reasonably adequate to enable the trespasser to avoid harm.
6. A possessor of real property is liable for physical injury to or death of a child trespasser caused by an artificial condition on the land if all of the following apply:
(a) The place where the condition exists is one on which the possessor knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass.
(b) The condition is one of which the possessor knew or reasonably should have known involved an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily harm to children.
(c) The child trespasser, because of the child's youth, did not discover the condition or realize the risk involved in intermeddling with it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it.
(d) The utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition and the burden of eliminating the danger are slight as compared with the risk to the child involved.
(e) The possessor failed to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or otherwise to protect the injured child.
C. This section does not establish or increase the liability of any possessor of real property and does not affect any immunities from or defenses to liability established by statute or available at common law to which a possessor of real property may be entitled.
D. For the purposes of this section, "Trespasser" means a person who enters or remains on real property in the possession of another without actual or implied permission.
Sec. 2. Intent
The Legislature intends this act to codify the common law liability of real property possessors for harms to trespassers in effect on the effective date of this act. Thus, this legislation does not abrogate any common law right of action that either existed as of statehood or judicially evolved into existence by the effective date of this act. The legislation also does not limit the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the death or injury of any person.
Sec. 3. Short title
This act may be cited as the "Trespasser Responsibility Act".