Top Rated Atlanta Attractive Nuisance Attorney
Children cannot identify and appreciate dangers, and are generally more impulsive than adults when they see something they like. Whereas we expect an adult to put his or her own health and safety first, we recognize that a child is not mature enough to do so. These are the concepts behind the tort doctrine of attractive nuisance. The attractive nuisance doctrine applies to landowners who have dangerous conditions on their property that are likely attract children, but fail to take steps to keep children out of harm’s way. Under the doctrine, landlords may be held liable for a child’s injuries, regardless of the child’s right to be on the property.
Gumprecht Law Firm represents children who are injured on unsafe property. The landowner may try to blame your child for trespassing or claim that you failed to properly supervise your child. These are not valid defenses to an attractive nuisance cause of action. The property owner also might attempt to repair the condition – in essence, destroying important evidence – before we have an opportunity to investigate. For this reason, you should contact an attractive nuisance lawyer immediately after the accident.
Attorney Michael Gumprecht is available 24/7 to begin investigating your child’s accident. His high level of dedication and experience has earned Attorney Gumprecht numerous distinctions, including a lifetime membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and his background in technology has been instrumental in cases involving investigations of corporate wrongdoing. Call us now to help your child recover damages.
What Is an Attractive Nuisance?
Landowners have a lesser duty to adult trespassers than they do to adults they invite onto their property as social guests or for commercial purposes. When children are concerned, however, the landowner retains a heightened duty to both maintain safety on the property and remove an attractive nuisance if:
- The property has a dangerous condition that is likely to attract children.
- The landlord knows that the condition could be dangerous to children.
- The landlord knows that children are likely to trespass upon the property.
- Children are too young to recognize the risks associated with the dangerous condition.
- The costs of repairing the dangerous condition are low in compared to the risks of injuring a child.
- The landowner does not exercise reasonable care in protecting children from danger.
Duty of the Landowner to Children
Anything on a property that a landowner knows might attract children may be considered an attractive nuisance. Common attractive nuisances include:
- Swimming pools
- Hot tubs
- Trampolines
- Sandpits
- Abandoned cars or machinery
- Abandoned buildings
- A dog or other pet
- Playground equipment
- Piles of lumber
- Statuary
- Guns and other weapons
The landowner has a duty to repair or remove the attractive nuisance or to protect children from it. For example, the landlord might board up a vacant building to keep children from entering. The landowner might also take steps to keep children off the property or from entering the dangerous area by installing a secure, locked fence. However, “Do not enter” and other warning signs do not satisfy the landowner’s duty of reasonable care.
Contact a Georgia Attractive Nuisance Attorney to Recover Damages for Your Child
If your child was injured on unsafe property, call 678-800-1050 to talk to a Georgia attractive nuisance attorney at the Gumprecht Law Firm. Our attorney is available 24/7 and offers a free first-time consultation. Because we handle your claim on contingency, you do not pay lawyers’ fees until we recover on your behalf.
