Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicelord John
nobody is going to sue them for getting cut on grass... but you'd better be sure if I impailed my arm on rebar debris, they would get sued.
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Not if you are an adult trespasser. In Arizona, adult trespassers cannot sue for injuries sustained on another property because they are not a business or guest invitee. They are owed no duty of protection, so unlike many other states, the trespasser is HML in Arizona. HML = hosed as a matter of law.
The only exception to this is if the trespasser can show that the property owner "set a trap" for them. For example, you can't rig up a 12-gauge shotgun to fire when someone opens the front door. Then and only then can an adult trespasser sue for injuries.
I write adult trespassers because children are held to a different standard. If the child was a trespasser, they generally are also HML, with the exception of the "attractive nuisance doctrine." Basically, that means if you have something that is a hazard but would attract the attention of a child and entice them to play on it, then the property owner may have some liability. The classic example of an attractive nuisance is an unfenced trampoline.
Assumption of the risk can also function as a complete bar to recovery. For children, this is tailored based on what a reasonable child of similar age could have appreciated in terms of the hazard and acted accordingly. Generally, the older the child, the more likely assumption of the risk will be used as a defense. For an adult, assumption of the risk in Arizona will likely be fatal to most personal injury claims. It would be difficult to survive a motion for summary judgment if you are the plaintiff and assumption of the risk applies. Even if you somehow make it to a jury, the defense will get a jury instruction that reads as follows:
"Jurors, if you reasonably believe that the plaintiff properly appreciated the risk and voluntarily chose to incur that risk, and then sustained injury as a result of that risk, you must find for the defendant in this case." Given Arizona juries generally don't like plaintiffs (two-thirds of personal injury cases tried in Arizona result in defense verdicts), they are often more than happy to read that and, in essence, say to the plaintiff "You get zero. Have a nice day."
Given your facts, that you would be a trespasser and an adult climbing over crumbled stone and rebar, you would have virtually no chance in Arizona of recovering a dime for your injuries. Even if you could somehow get around the trespasser issue, the fact as an adult you could see the debris and voluntarily chose to go climbing through it like an idiot, the jury would slam you for assumption of the risk. Basically, Arizona has a pretty practical personal injury system. You can't collect money in this state for being a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵, generally speaking.
--don
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