Recreational Use Statutes – What is Covered?

Overview

A recent court decision from Michigan involving that state’s recreational use statute raised a question that I sometimes get from farmers, ranchers and rural landowners – just what type of activity does a recreational use statute cover?  It’s a good question.  The answer is, “it depends.”  Each state provision is unique, but there are some basic general points that can be made.

Model Legislation

In 1965, the Council of State Governments proposed the adoption of a Model Act to limit an owner or occupier's liability for injury occurring on the owner's property. The stated purpose of the Model Act was to encourage owners to make land and water areas available to the public for recreational purposes by limiting their liability toward persons who enter the property for such purposes.  Liability protection was extended to holders of a fee ownership interest, tenants, lessees, occupants, and persons in control of the premises.  Land which receives the benefit of the act include roads, waters, water courses, private ways and buildings, structures and machinery or equipment when attached to the realty. Recreational activities within the purview of the act include hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, camping, picnicking, hiking, pleasure driving, nature study, water skiing, water sports, and viewing or enjoying historical, archeological, scenic or scientific sites.  Most states have enacted some version of the 1965 Model legislation.

Under the model legislation, an owner or occupier owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by others for recreational purposes, or to give any warning of dangerous conditions, uses, structures, or activities to persons entering the premises for such recreational purposes. Similarly, if an owner, directly or indirectly, invites or permits any person without charge to use the property for recreational purposes, the owner does not extend any assurance the premises are safe for any purpose, confer the status of licensee or invitee on the person using the property, or assume responsibility or incur liability for any injury to persons or property caused by any act or omission of persons who are on the property.

The protection afforded by the Model Act is not absolute, however.  Should injury to users of the property be caused by the willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity, the protection of the act would be lost.  Likewise, if the owner imposes a charge on the user of the property, the protection of the act is lost.  The 1965 Model Act contained a specific provision that did not exempt anyone from liability for injury in any case where the owner of land charges a fee to the person or persons who enter or go onto the land for recreational purposes.  Under most state statutes patterned after the Model Act, if a fee is charged for use of the premises for recreational purposes, it converts the entrant's status to that of an invitee.  Some states (such as Wisconsin) establish a monetary limit on what a landowner may receive in a calendar year and still have the liability protection of the statute.  The North Dakota statute provides immunity for landowners that invite the public onto their land for recreational rather than commercial purposes, with the distinction between the two classifications largely turning on whether a fee is directly charged.

Signs, Release Language and Gross Negligence

Many fee-based recreational use operations require guests to sign a form releasing the landowner from liability for any injury a guest may sustain while recreating on the premises.  To be an effective shield against liability, a release must be drafted carefully and must be clear, unambiguous, explicit and not violate public policy. Courts generally construe release language against the drafter and severely limit the landowner’s ability to contract away liability for its own negligence. Likewise, most courts that have considered the question have held that a parent cannot release a minor child’s prospective claim for negligence.  This has led some state legislatures to consider legislation designed to protect organizations while not allowing wrongdoers to escape liability for intentional or grossly negligent conduct.  This is where that recent Michigan case fits in.

In Otto v. Inn at Watervale, No. 330214, 2017 Mich. App. LEXIS 68 (Mich. Ct. App. Jan. 17, 2017). the plaintiff, the mother of a 10-year-old girl sued the defendant for burn injuries her daughter suffered while using the defendant’s beach area. The daughter was playing on the beach with friends when she stepped on hot coals that were covered up in the beach’s sand. The defendant had allowed guests in the past to have “fire rings” on the beach, and they had become covered with sand blown by the wind which had not yet been uncovered from the prior fall season. There had also been prior problems with guests not properly extinguishing fires on the beach in the past. The plaintiff sued based in negligence and the defendant moved for summary judgment on the basis that the claim was barred by the state (MI) Recreational Land Use Act (RLUA) (MCL §324.73301). The RLUA bars an action to recover for injuries incurred while on the land of another without paying a fee for the purpose of “fishing, hunting, trapping, camping, hiking sightseeing, motorcycling, snowmobiling, or any other outdoor recreational use or trail use with or without permission,…unless the injuries were caused by gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct of the owner, tenant or lessee. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion, but allowed the plaintiff to amend the complaint to add gross negligence and willful and wanton misconduct claims. The plaintiff amended the complaint, claiming that the defendant’s conduct was reckless in letting guests have beach bonfires without properly supervising or providing instructions for putting the fires out, and for not properly warning the public of the possibility of hot fire coals. The defendant claimed that the hot coals were buried and not visible and that a reasonable inspection would not have disclosed them and that staff cleaned embers from fire rings on a weekly basis. The trial court again granted summary judgment for the defendant. On appeal, the appellate court reversed. The court noted that a child’s play on a beach was not the type of activity that was of the same kind, class, character or nature of the listed activities in the RLUA. In addition, the court determined that the child was not engaged in “any other outdoor recreational use or trail use.” As such, the RULA did not apply and the court reversed the trial court’s determination. 

Inherent Risks

With increased interest by farm and ranch owners in providing recreational activities to generate additional income, some states have passed ag immunity laws designed to supplement the protection provided by recreational liability acts.  In general, the various state statutes provide liability protection for landowners against the injury or death of a participant in a recreational activity arising from the “inherent risks” of the activity.  The Colorado statute, for example, is written in this manner. 

Negligent Supervision

Recreational use statutes generally do not preclude legal claims based on negligent supervision.  In one case from Maine, the plaintiff was engaged in cutting and making firewood on the defendant’s property and was injured while loading a wood splitter.  The state recreational use statute covered the harvesting or gathering of forest products and would have shielded the defendant from liability for the plaintiff’s injuries.  As a result, the plaintiff alleged negligent supervision and instruction concerning the use of the wood splitter.  The court held that the plaintiff’s claim was not precluded by the recreational use statute inasmuch as the statute only precluded claims alleging premises liability, and allowed the case to proceed to trial on the negligent supervision claim.  Dickinson v. Clark, 767 A.2d 303 (Me. 2001).

Conclusion

While this discussion just scratches the surface, the point is that a rural landowner should have at least some knowledge of their state’s recreational use statute, or at least have legal counsel that does.  Each state’s particular statutory language is unique, and there are a seemingly endless number of situations that could invoke the statute.  Given that agricultural land is prone to activities of third party entrants that could create liability situations for the landowner, knowledge of the rules (and insurance) are key.