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Under Tort law visitors to a property are divided under three legal categories: Invitee, Licensee, and Trespasser. However, a California case named Rowland v. Christian has almost eliminated the distinctions between Invitee and Licensee. It has instead imposed a “reasonable duty of care” standard, which asks: would a reasonable person act under the attendant circumstances as did the defendant?

INVITEE

An Invitee is referred to someone who is visiting a property, because the owner and/or occupier of the premises has invited, Expressly or Impliedly, the person to the property for the purpose of doing business. For instance, a person who enters a store to look at a pair of shoes is an Invitee, regardless of purchase.  That is because the property (Shop) is open to the general public.

The property owner or occupier has a duty to make their property safe for an invitee. This safety measure includes conducting reasonable inspections of the premises to discover any hidden dangers and fix them. The property owner or possessor has a duty to warn the invitee of hazardous conditions that cannot be fixed. Furthermore, property owners or occupiers have a duty to help an invitee, who sustains injury on their property.

LICENSEE

A Licensee is a person who enters a property, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, but the owner/occupier of the property has allowed the person to enter. For instance, a social guest is considered a licensee.

A property owner or occupier owes a Licensee a duty of reasonable care, which means, if there is a harmful condition on the property that is not visible to the licensee, and if the owner/occupier knows about that condition, he or she must warn the Licensee. 

TRESPASSER

Under Tort Law, a Trespasser is referred to a person who enters someone’s property without implied or express permission. There are two types of trespass laws: Tort Trespass and Criminal Trespass.

Clearly entering or remaining on the property of another person, after the initial permission expires, create liability in the trespasser. Please note that the trespass must be intentional. For example, a person walking on his own property trips and falls onto the adjacent property would not amount to trespass, because the person accidentally fell and not intentionally walked into the neighboring property.

PROPERTY OWNER/OCCUPIER’S DUTY TO TRESPASSERS

In order to determine property owner/occupier duty to trespasser, we must first determine whether the Trespasser was an undiscovered trespasser, to whom the property owner owes only a duty not to willfully harm the trespasser.  Second, there is the discovered trespasser, to whom, the owner/occupier owes a duty to warn them of dangerous conditions on the property, which would be hidden to them, but the property owner must be aware of such hazards. For instance, a posted warning sign at the entrance of the property may suffice. 

ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE (TRESPASSING CHILDREN) 

Under Tort Law Attractive Nuisance is referred to a legal doctrine, which holds land owners/occupiers liable to trespassing children. This law is designed to protect children who are unable to appreciate the gravity of risk posed by objects such as cars, sand, pool, trampoline or junk on the property. In such cases, courts, generally, evaluate each “child” under attendant circumstances that caused the injury. If it is determined that the child was able to understand and appreciate the hazard, the doctrine of attractive nuisance may not apply.

Under the old common law, the injured party must have shown that the hazardous condition itself attracted the child to the property. However, modern law uses the doctrine of foreseeability of the sustained injury. Premises Liability laws are highly complex. The Capable, Credible and Compassionate Chosen Lawyers are here to help you from Start-to-Success. If you’ve been injured, while visiting the property of another, please click or call Chosen Lawyers for a Free and Confidential case Evaluation.  Should you decide to retain a Chosen Lawyer, they only get paid when You Win!