What is an "attractive nuisance"?

On behalf of Aiken and Aiken P.C. Personal Injury Attorneys posted in Premises Liability, on Monday, May 18, 2015

Under Massachusetts law as it relates to premises liability, trespassers upon the property of another are generally not owed any duty of care on the part of the property owner. There is, however, one significant exception to this rule: child trespassers.Massachusetts is one of several states that recognizes the propensity of children to be curious about potentially dangerous situations and conditions while simultaneously lacking the capability to understand the danger. Accordingly, for property owners who meet certain criteria the law imposes legal liability even for trespassers as long as those trespassers are children. This is known as the “attractive nuisance” doctrine. The attractive nuisance doctrine contains seven elements which must be proven in order for the plaintiff to prevail:The property must contain an artificial condition, such as a structure, open pit, abandoned equipment, or so on.The owner must know or have reason to know that children are likely to trespass onto the property.В The owner must know or be in position to know that the artificial condition poses an unreasonable risk of death or serious injury to children.Because of their youth and inexperience, children could not be expected to discover the condition or to realize the risks that it poses.The benefit to the landowner of maintaining the artificial condition, as well as the burden to the landowner of eliminating the danger from that condition are slight when compared to the risks that it poses to children.The property owner fails to exercise reasonable care to either eliminate the danger of the artificial condition or to protect children from it.This post is intended as an overview of attractive nuisance law, and not as legal advice. Proving the elements of an attractive nuisance premises liability case can involve substantial factual investigation and careful application of the legal requirements to the facts. An experienced Massachusetts personal injury attorney may be able to assist you in investigating, analyzing and bringing forward a legal claim if your children have been injured on the property of another, even if they were not there with permission.