united-states liability georgia trespass
Am I liable if trespassers on my private property injure themselves?
<p>If people trespass on my property (i.e. walk through my backyard without my permission) and they get injured (i.e. trip and break an arm or a tree branch falls on their head), am I liable under Georgia law?  </p>

<p>This is a general common law answer; Georgia may have statutes or the common law there may change this.</p>

<p>In order to establish negligence as a Cause of Action under the law of torts, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant:</p>

<ol>
<li>had a duty to the plaintiff,</li>
<li>breached that duty by failing to conform to the required standard of conduct (generally the standard of a reasonable person),</li>
<li>the negligent conduct was, in law, the cause of the harm to the plaintiff, and</li>
<li>the plaintiff was, in fact, harmed or damaged.</li>
</ol>

<p>For your scenario:</p>

<ol>
<li>Most jurisdictions have held that you do have a duty to innocent trespassers - people on your property without permission but without criminal intent. The children you describe in your comment fall into that category.</li>
<li>Your duty is to do what a reasonable person would to ensure that your yard is free from unreasonable hazards. If you have an abandoned mine shaft you should fence it sort of thing.</li>
<li>The damage must be a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the failure to discharge the duty</li>
<li>The person must actually be harmed.</li>
</ol>

<p>The duty of care to a trespasser is that the property owner, "would not be liable for anything but affirmative acts amounting to wilfulness."</p>

<p>Montega Corp. v. Grooms, 128 Ga. App. 333, 337 (Ga. Ct. App. 1973)</p>

<p>It depends. Not knowing about Georgia law, but you are very likely liable if you set up traps in your backyard, and likely liable if you allowed there to be a danger that would affect people like your postman, or kids picking up a ball that dropped over the fence. </p>

<p>And you are only ever liable if the accident is actually your fault. Something that you did wrong causing the accident. </p>
