Our tort laws here are just plain messed upā¦ Check this scenario and tell me how it makes any sense.
I have a dirtbike, and I sneak into a quarry, going around a fence thats broken. Iām an idiot, I see a dirt mound and I jump off it, hitting a piece of machinery, damaging quarry property, my bike, myself, and requiring emergency assistance from first aid / police.
In Jersey? I can sue the quarry for lack of maintenance of the fence, not making it harder for me to sneak in, and I can actually win (not that I would, but people do, and thats why its draconian laws against off road vehicles here).
Just a few miles away, in Pennsylvania? The quarry can sue me for the damages to their machinery, the township first aid / police can bill me for unnecessary use of services, because I WAS an idiot, and its my fault, NOT the quarryās faultā¦
Iāve never sued a property owner for my idiocity (when I was 13 I ruptured my spleen, broke ribs, bruised kidneys and spent 10 days in the hospital after tieing a kids big wheel on the back of a yz80 in the woods, and wrapping myself around a treeā¦) My parents went to the other kids parents, said that we were both idiots, lets both submit to our insurances, and then split the restā¦ No million dollar lawsuitsā¦ People these days see that as a lottery ticket, my parents saw it as two idiotic boys doing stupid shitā¦
Butā¦ We coulda sued the farmer for ease of accessā¦ stupid as it is, and despite not having his permission (as a matter of fact, I dont think he ever even found out I had been injured on the property)