by: Chris Martineau
CHARLOTTE, NC- While summer can be full of fun activities at the pool, lake, or beach, it can also include liability for property owners if not properly prepared. Generally speaking, a property owner owes a duty of reasonable care to any lawful visitor. A lawful visitor is anyone allowed on the premises by the property owner, invited by the property owner, or on the property due to the property owner’s request. The property owner is required to make reasonable inspection of the property to ascertain any hidden danger as part of this duty to a lawful visitor.
The owner of a private pool has the duty to warn lawful visitors of any dangers that are not obvious. Certain risks, like slippery surfaces around the pool, and diving from inappropriate places, are likely apparent to any reasonable person and most likely would not create liability for a pool owner in the event of an injury. However, the private pool owner does have the duty to repair faulty equipment such as a broken ladder or diving board or warn guests of their defectiveness. Faulty equipment creates a risk that a reasonable person does not assume when they enter a pool. Furthermore, the private pool owner has a duty to adequately supervise children or to provide a barrier such as a fence or pool cover to stop children from entering the pool without supervision.
If the property is a lake house with a dock or boat house in which some of the deck boards are loose, soft, or otherwise faulty, which likely is not open or obvious, then the property owner would be liable for any damages suffered by an individual if he or she falls through a deck board of a dock or boat house. However, if there is a large portion of decking missing, due to reconstruction for example, from the dock or boat house which is completely open and obvious to any reasonable person and an individual walks into that portion of the decking and falls into the water, then arguably the property owner would not be liable for any damages that individual suffered.
A “landowner is under no duty to protect a visitor against dangers either known or so obvious and apparent that they reasonably may be expected to be discovered.” Grayson v. High Point Dev. Ltd. P’ship, 175 N.C. App. 786, 789, 625 S.E.2d 591, 593 (2006). “Accordingly, dangerous conditions which are open and obvious do not create liability for a landowner.” Id.
Generally speaking, a property owner does not have a duty to protect a trespasser. However, a property owner will be liable if a child is injured on the property due to a hazardous or dangerous condition that would be attractive and/or inviting to a child. This requires the property owner to put themselves in the mind of a child and determine if there is something on the property which a child may think of climbing, getting into, or otherwise playing with. For example, mounds of brick, lumber, and pipes could entice a child to climb on those objects like a jungle gym. This could also include a pool or body of water without proper fencing or other protection, since children enjoy swimming and playing in water, as mentioned above.
Christopher L. Martineau is a general liability defense attorney in the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Willson Jones Carter & Baxley, P.A. He can be reached at [email protected], (704) 247-9690.