Trespasser Liability Reform: S.B. 1160 (2011)

| December 6, 2016

Codifies traditional common law rules with respect to the duty

Codifies traditional common law rules with respect to the duty a landowner owes to a trespasser and prevent courts from adopting the new radical standard recommended in the Restatement of Torts (third). In Texas, landowners currently do not owe a duty of care to trespassers and are not liable for their injuries. There are certain exceptions, but these are narrow in scope and well defined. Specifically, S.B. 1160: (1) defines a trespasser; (2) codifies the existing rule that land possessors owe no duty of care to trespassers; (3) provides well-recognized exceptions to the general rule; (4) provides that a child who is at least 14 years of age appreciates the risk of a highly dangerous artificial condition on land; (5) makes clear that the use of justifiable force to repel an intruder, as permitted under the Penal Code, will not result in civil liability for injury to a trespasser; (6) clarifies that this new code does not affect other statutory provisions regarding the duty owed by land possessors, or otherwise create or increase the liability of any person or entity; and (7) provides that the legislation is prospective only.

In War On Arbitration, Consumers And Companies Both Lose

In The News

ATRA President Tiger Joyce writes how companies that end arbitration face the risk of consumer class actions, in the face of plaintiffs firms ramping up mass arbitration proceedings.