What is the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine?

If you own a home or business, a lawsuit from someone injured on your property could bankrupt you. And believe it or not, you can be held liable for injuries suffered by trespassers who are younger than 18. These types of premises liability claims often fall under a legal rule called the attractive nuisance doctrine.

You see, most children can’t understand the risk posed by something like climbing a ladder without any adults present. Or sneaking onto someone else’s property to go swimming while a neighbor’s out of town. Below, we’ll explain potential liability issues property owners might face in cases involving injured child trespassers.

How Attractive Nuisance Laws for Property Owners Help Protect Children: Key Takeaways

• The attractive nuisance doctrine holds owners liable for injuries to child trespassers caused by enticing hazardous conditions on their property.
• Attractive nuisances can include things like swimming pools, trampolines, and power tools that pose an implied injury risk to trespassing children.
• The doctrine aims to force property owners to take reasonable steps to protect children who cannot appreciate the safety risks involved. This includes hanging up warning signs, installing adequate fencing, and locking up dangerous objects.
• Property owners have a special responsibility to prevent children drawn to their property by attractive nuisances from suffering serious injury or death.
• Whether you’re the victim’s parent or the property owner, a personal injury attorney can help you understand your legal rights.

Understanding What the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine Means for You

The doctrine of attractive nuisance applies in all but eight U.S. states and falls under tort law. It’s important to know that tort law applies to attractive nuisance claims since they’re civil, not criminal cases. Other common tort law claims include public transit injuries, airline-related accidents, cruise ship injuries, and dog bite claims.

Essentially, there are three components:

1. Children cannot fully understand how potential attractive nuisances may put them in physical danger.
2. You, the owner, are responsible for anticipating any dangers that may exist on your property and taking reasonable precautions to protect children who may encounter them, including while trespassing.
3. Failing to meet this legal duty of care means any injured victims may hold you liable in a court of law for their losses. These can include things like medical bills, time lost from work or school, and pain and suffering.

In other words, if a child trespasses and drowns while you’re away on a work trip, you may still be responsible. Here are some steps you could take to try and prevent that accident before it happens:

• Lock your fence and tell the neighbors anytime you won’t be home.
• Cover your pool and lock it up whenever it’s not in use.
• Install a security camera in your backyard with a motion detector alerting you to potential trespassers on your property.
• Hang up signs warning children never to swim in the pool without adult supervision.

What is Considered an Attractive Nuisance on a Landowner’s Property?

Anything man-made that tempts children to trespass onto your property that subsequently injures or kills them can be an attractive nuisance. This can include anything from farming equipment to metal arrows you shoot in the backyard at a standing target.

However, natural hazards may also present a dangerous condition for trespassing minors without that same liability risk. Here are some things that can hurt children on your property, but you won’t be liable under the attractive nuisance doctrine:

• Lakes, ponds, and ocean beach front property with water access along the shoreline
• Cliffs and naturally occurring caves and hills
• Wild animal or insect bites
• Smoke inhalation from a nearby wildfire

Attractive Nuisance Examples That Can Lead to Death or Serious Injury

1. Artificial Water Features

This can include anything that features standing or moving water on your property in which a child might drown, such as:

• Swimming pools
• Hot tubs
• Fountains
• Wells
• Cisterns
• Large open storage tanks

In addition to drowning risks, pools and hot tubs also pose a slip and fall injury risk to unsupervised visitors.

2. Construction Sites, Home Remodeling Projects, and Heavy Machinery

Who among us hasn’t walked past construction sites and wanted to operate a crane, digger, or jackhammer before? Plenty of children do, and that curiosity can extend to your own home remodeling project. Keep an eye out for typical attractive nuisances young children are drawn to, such as:

• Ladders
• Scaffolding
• Power tools, lawn equipment, or other heavy machinery left plugged in and easily accessible to small children
• Open holes or pits the ground
• Large piles of dirt or gravel
• Discarded items that may pose an unreasonable risk of death, like refrigerators, washing machines, or other large appliances
• Loose nails, awls, axes, screwdrivers, and other potential dangers found in any toolbox
• Downed trees
• Piles of lumber, bricks, siding, shingles, etc.

3. Playground Equipment and Large Toys

Nothing draws children in quite like large toys that are visible above your fence line or to your neighbors. According to studies, trampolines are especially dangerous for trespassing children. Trampolines injure about 100,000 children annually, and those aged 6 and younger risk catastrophic injuries.

Swing sets and other playground equipment are a close second for child injuries, however. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, playground injuries send 200,000 children to the emergency room annually. And some percentage of those falls, scrapes, and broken bones come from home playground equipment.

Tree houses and standalone slides are another potential source of frequent falls, scrapes, broken bones, and concussions.

ATVs (all terrain vehicles), dirt bikes, and skateboards are also incredibly dangerous for young children to play with.

4. Weapons and Fire Pits

The attractive nuisance doctrine applies to any dangerous artificial condition that could tempt children into a self-harm situation. Ensure all weapons are locked away and out of sight when not in use. Ideally, property owners should store guns inside a safe unloaded with ammunition stored separately.

But there are other things that people may own that also count as weapons (and toys), depending on how they’re used:

• Axes, knives, stars, or hatchets for throwing at standing targets in your backyard
• Dart boards and regular pointed metal darts
• Horseshoes

Fire pits left unattended or uncovered overnight can lead to smoke inhalation or burn injuries in children.

Important: In some cases, animals also count as attractive nuisances. If you own horses, for example, a trespassing child may sneak in to ride one of your animals. Horseback riding accidents cause nearly 50,000 ER visits annually and are the #1 cause of sport-related brain damage.

How to Prove an Accident Involving Premises Liability

A good fence with a locking gate is a good first step towards protecting yourself from liability issues and preventing accidental injuries. Warning signs are also a good idea, along with a tool shed to lock away dangerous objects in overnight. However, these common sense precautions won’t protect you from a premises liability lawsuit when trespassing children are involved.

Legally, most states follow the Restatement of Torts standard for proving an attractive nuisance doctrine claim. That standard says that if your case includes these five elements, you can hold the property owner liable for damages:

1. The property where attractive nuisances exist is one where the possessor might reasonably expect children to trespass.
2. The property’s owner knows that this condition exists, and that it could cause grave bodily harm or death to unsupervised children.
3. Children (because of their age) cannot realize these potential dangers exist or the extent of risk involved while they’re trespassing.
4. Any burden or expense for the property owner related to minimizing or eliminating the danger is slight compared with the personal injury risk to any children involved.
5. The property’s possessor fails to exercise reasonable care to prevent injury and protect children who trespass and encounter attractive nuisances.

If all five conditions apply, then a court may find the property owner negligent and award the injured victim compensatory damages.

Does Homeowners’ Insurance Cover Common Attractive Nuisances?

Homeowner’s insurance does provide liability coverage for accidental injuries suffered on the covered property. But for common attractive nuisances, like swimming pools and trampolines, homeowners may face additional hurdles from insurers. Below are some examples:

• Some insurance companies may decline to issue liability policies for properties with common hazardous risks, like pools or trampolines.
• Your insurer may require you to take extra precautions to maintain coverage. Installing a four-foot fence with a locking gate around your pool might be one such requirement, for example.
• You may wish to purchase an umbrella policy or consider increasing your liability coverage limit. Most homeowner’s insurance policies cover $100,000 per injury accident, which might not be enough.

An Attorney Can Help Prove Attractive Nuisance Doctrine Injury Claims

Attractive nuisance laws are designed to minimize avoidable childhood injuries. If your child is injured on another person’s property, a personal injury attorney can help explain your rights.

All personal injury lawyers in our network offer “no win, no fee” pay agreements. That means if you don’t win a cash settlement, then you pay $0 in legal fees to your attorney.

Our network includes hundreds of law firms nationwide with attorneys ready to review your case for free. To contact a legal professional near you, call 888-927-3080 or click the button below to start your free, no-obligation evaluation: