Do you assume that anyone who comes onto your property without permission and gets injured won’t have a case against you since they were trespassing? That’s not always how it works, especially with children. If you have an attractive nuisance, you could still be liable.
Examples of an attractive nuisance include things like a swimming pool, a dangerous animal, a well or a tunnel. Swimming pools are perhaps the most common.
Essentially, the nuisance is something that the children will naturally be drawn to or attracted to. It also holds some inherent danger for them, but they are too young to understand. They may also not understand property lines and boundaries.
If the children come onto the property in order to use the attractive nuisance, and they’re able to do it because you did not take any steps to protect them or keep them off of the property, then you may be responsible for their injuries. You have an obligation to understand that they make poor decisions and to protect them from themselves.
For instance, if you have a fence around your pool and it has a gate that latches automatically, you can argue that you did all you could. If you have no fence and no gate, and your pool is located on the side of your house in clear view of your neighbors and the street, it is clearly a hazard to kids in the area. You did not do enough.
Has one of your children suffered an injury on someone else’s property? If an attractive nuisance was to blame, you need to make sure you know all of your rights.
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