5 July 2007
Pennsylvania Law Protects Landowners Who Allow Hunters On Their Property
Posted by Darrell under: In The News .
A new Pennsylvania law further exempts landowners from liability for accidents. Protection from liability for landowners has been in place for more than 40 years in Pennsylvania. However, a crazy lawsuit prompted this new law. A landowner was actually found guilty (by a jury) of negligience (he was 10% negligient - whatever that is supposed to mean) when a hunter, whom was given permission to be on his property, accidentally shot a woman in the head.
The woman was over a half mile away AND on a different property than that owned by the landowner who was found guilty. I’m sure I’m missing some of the facts in this case, but even so, I must ask “What was this jury smoking?” This jury, in essence, said that the landowner was guilty of negligience for letting someone hunt on their land. What?
A woman being accidentally shot is a tragic event and I’m not minimizing this at all. However, holding a landowner guilty because he let someone hunt on his property is ludicrous! Fortunately this won’t happen again - at least in Pennsylvania. It is sad to think that some landowners might refuse hunting access to their land simply out of fear of being sued for an accident.
To read more about this, check out the following two links:
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/206465
http://www.indianagazette.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6663&Itemid=54
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