Question

The Jameson family have three young children, ages 8, 6 & 2. They live in a home in an urban area adjacent to a local construction company. The construction company owns multiple construction vehicles, including several back hoes. The property is gated and fenced and there are "NO TRESPASSING" signs posted throughout the property. One day, the Jameson's 8 year old daughter managed to climb through a hole in the company's fence to play on the property. While there, she climbed up onto a back hoe and cut herself severely on a loose bolt. As a result of the cut, the Jameson's daughter required 28 stitches and will need surgery to repair tendon damage. Is the construction company liable for the injuries though the child was clearly on the property without permission. Explain your answer thoroughly.

Answer 1

My answer is NO.

Justification:

In the given question, the property belongs to a construction company which has a its own property, construction vehicles including many backhoes. In order to prohibit the entry of trespassers, they have done fencing aroud the property and has been restricted entry for outsiders only through the main gate. Also, to ensure the same, they have even kept a "No Trespassing" board as well within the property. By doing all these and taking all necesary measures, the company has made it clear that they doesn't entertain the entry of outsiders inside their premises.

As we can see here, the daughter has hurt herself by violating the enty restrictions. Hence, this gives an advantage for the company to indeed sue against the girl who entered the factory premises ignoring the warning board of "No Trespassing" as well. Also, the hurt has happened due to the sole ignorance of  the daughter and the company has no role to play with regard to the same. In case the father goes to court for any damanges or to sue against the company for loose bolt, the company can even claim that those backhoes were not in a good condition and were kept for servicing at the company. And unfortunately the accident happened to the girl from that. If the company claims that the backhoe was already moved to the repairs area and the incident happened at that time,  the company can keep their side safe and will be releived out of paying any damages to for the girl.

Therefore I conclude that the company is in NO WAY LIABLE for the damages and any case filed against them would become NULL because of the above mentioned reasons.