People throughout Ohio enjoy a variety of recreational activities throughout the year. For hiking, riding horses and hunting, thousands of landowners give permission to others to enjoy recreation on their properties. Unfortunately, sometimes a recreational user will suffer an injury on dangerous property, leaving the landowner worried about liability and the victim worried about related medical bills and lost wages. So, when are landowners liable and when can recreational users seek compensation?
In Ohio, protections are in place designed to limit landowners’ liability for dangerous property-related accidents. These protections are in the form of a statute governing recreational use. Based on the statute, landowners are generally not liable for injuries occurring on non-residential property for which they gave permission to others to use for recreational purposes.
However, the protections afforded by this statute do have limits. In most cases, landowners who were paid for the use of their properties can be held liable, except in the case of leases. In the eyes of the law, the exchange of money or another benefit is seen as an acceptance by a landowner of liability.
If you were injured on another person’s nonresidential property while taking part in any recreational activity, you may or may not be able to file a premises liability suit citing dangerous property as the cause of your injury. However, as you can see, the laws governing such a suit are complex. In this situation, most find professional legal help beneficial when deciding whether to pursue legal action of this type in Ohio.