Re[2]: [at-l] White Mountains incident

[Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net (Bob C.)]

"...  I  can see the lawsuit already: retired Boston tort attorney falls down on
trail,  breaks  ankle,  has  to  lay  there 6 hours without help becaused he was
denied  the  right  to  carry  a  cell-phone.  ATC  bankrupted  by  $500,000,000
judgement..." speculates Bryan K.

Since the ATC has no regulatory powers, I doubt if it would be bankrupted by any
incident that may happen on the trail.

But  more  to the point every state has laws exempting landowners from liability
if  they allow people to use their land for free. The whole north woods of Maine
are open for recreational use. Thousands are hurt each year. Quite a few die. No
one  has  ever  collected  a  dime from the landowners. People are hurt daily on
trails  built  and  maintained  by  amateurs.  No  one  has  ever collected. The
assumption  under  most  state  laws  is  that  no trail, no bridge, no physical
structure is assumed to be safe. Recreational users pass at their own risk.

I  don't  know the status of federal law, but since thousands are hurt each year
on  government  lands and I rarely hear of law suits, I suspect government lands
have similar protections.

Weary