Bill Text: MI SB0788 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Torts; premises liability; liability of possessor of land for injuries to trespassers; codify. Creates new act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-05-21 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary [SB0788 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-SB0788-Engrossed.html
SB-0788, As Passed Senate, May 21, 2014
SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 788
A bill to codify the liability of possessors of land for
injuries to trespassers.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
"trespass liability act".
Sec. 3. (1) A possessor of a fee, reversionary, or easement
interest in land, including an owner, lessee, or other lawful
occupant, owes no duty of care to a trespasser and is not liable to
a trespasser for physical harm caused by the possessor's failure to
exercise reasonable care to put the land in a condition reasonably
safe for the trespasser or to carry on activities on the land so as
not to endanger trespassers.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a possessor of land may be
subject to liability for physical injury or death to a trespasser
if any of the following apply:
(a) The possessor injured the trespasser by willful and wanton
misconduct.
(b) The possessor was aware of the trespasser's presence on
the land, or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known of
the trespasser's presence on the land, and failed to use ordinary
care to prevent injury to the trespasser arising from active
negligence.
(c) The possessor knew, or from facts within the possessor's
knowledge should have known, that trespassers constantly intrude on
a limited area of the land and the trespasser was harmed as a
result of the possessor's failure to carry on an activity in that
limited area involving a risk of death or serious bodily harm with
reasonable care for the trespasser's safety.
(d) The trespasser is a child injured by an artificial
condition on the land and all of the following apply:
(i) The possessor knew or had reason to know that a child would
be likely to trespass on the place where the condition existed.
(ii) The possessor knew or had reason to know of the condition
and realized or should have realized that the condition would
involve an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily harm to a
child.
(iii) The injured child, because of his or her 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.
(iv) The utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition
and the burden of eliminating the danger were slight as compared
with the risk to the child.
(v) The possessor failed to exercise reasonable care to
eliminate the danger or otherwise to protect the child.
(3) This section does not increase the liability of a
possessor of land and does not affect any immunity from or defenses
to civil liability established by or available under the statutes
or common law of this state to which a possessor of land is
entitled.
