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Torts • Negligence
TORT#036
Legal Definition
Landowners owe no duty to protect someone off premises from natural conditions on the premises, but are liable to a passerby for unreasonably dangerous artificial conditions or structures abutting adjacent lands.
Plain English Explanation
Landowners generally don't need to concern themselves with the health or safety of people who are not physically on their land. There are a couple circumstances where they do: First, where the harm is caused from an unnatural condition on the land. For example, imagine a person who built a large parabolic mirror on their property that caused a focused beam of sunlight to project out into the street, blinding motorists and causing accidents.
Second, landowners owe some duty of care to a passersby (like people walking on the sidewalk next to the land) for either super dangerous, unnatural conditions, or structures that are on the property line. For example, if you dug a deep pit on the edge of your property next to a sidewalk, you would need to make sure people don't accidentally fall into it. Perhaps you build a railing or fence on the property line between your land and the sidewalk. Awesome, right? Except, if your barrier ends up tipping over and falling on a passerby, you are, again, liable.
Second, landowners owe some duty of care to a passersby (like people walking on the sidewalk next to the land) for either super dangerous, unnatural conditions, or structures that are on the property line. For example, if you dug a deep pit on the edge of your property next to a sidewalk, you would need to make sure people don't accidentally fall into it. Perhaps you build a railing or fence on the property line between your land and the sidewalk. Awesome, right? Except, if your barrier ends up tipping over and falling on a passerby, you are, again, liable.
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: Sam has a beautiful flower patch in his backyard. Every spring, swarms of bees visit his flowers. One day, one of the bees flies next door to Bob and stings him in the face. Result: Wild bees acting wildly is about as natural as it gets. As such, Sam owes no one outside of his property any duty to protect them from being stung.
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