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<br /> http:/Aeginfo.leg.wa....5274/5254-s_fbr_050897 http://leginfo.leg.wa....5274/5254-s_fbr_050897 <br /> i i <br /> FINAL BILL REPORT <br /> SSB 5254 <br /> C26L97 <br /> Synopsis as Enacted <br /> Brief Description: Limiting liability of owners or possessors for injuries to <br /> recreational users. <br /> Sponsors: Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Parks (originally sponsored <br /> by Senators Long, Roach, Haugen, Jacobsen, Fraser, Zarelli, Strannigan, <br /> Deccio, Thibaudeau, Wood, Fairley, Goings and Winsley). <br /> Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Parks <br /> House Committee on Law & Justice <br /> Background: In common law, a landowner's duty of care to persons entering <br /> his or her land is governed by the status of those entering, i.e., <br /> trespassers, licensees, or invitees. Generally, a landowner owes trespassers <br /> and licensees the duty to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring them, <br /> whereas to invitees the landowner owes an affirmative duty to use ordinary <br /> care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition. <br /> The recreational land statute was enacted in 1967 to encourage the owners of <br /> agricultural or forest lands to open land for gratuitous recreational use by <br /> limiting landowner liability. <br /> The limitation of liability is not without exceptions: (1) when the <br /> recreational user is charged a fee; (2) when the user is injured by <br /> intentional acts; or (3) when the user sustains injuries caused by a known <br /> dangerous artificial latent condition for which warning signs have not been <br /> conspicuously posted. <br /> "Artificial" means not naturally occurring, caused by man. "Latent" means <br /> not apparent to the general class of users. The condition itself must lie <br /> latent, not just the danger. "Known" means actual knowledge of the danger <br /> itself and the fact that the danger is latent (differing from common law in <br /> which constructive knowledge is recognized). <br /> Summary: Public or private landowners who allow members of the public to use <br /> their lands for purposes of skateboarding or other nonmotorized wheel based <br /> activities, hang gliding, or paragliding are not liable for unintentional <br /> injuries to users. <br /> Votes on Final Passage: <br /> Senate 48 0 <br /> House 95 0 <br /> Effective: July 27, 1997 <br /> 1 of 1 11/11/97 13:42:14 <br /> <br />