[at-l] Warning to All hiker

[ellen at clinic.net (ellen)]

Essentially, the warning is the Maine law that protects private lan d owners from law suits by persons recreating on their lands, but with the details spelled out. The law essentially says that you use private land at your own risk, that all manmade and and natural things you encounter-- trails, bridges, plants, animals, insects, ... everything should be assumed to be unsafe and that you are totally responsible for whatever happens to you. And to make sure you don't harass landowners with law suit, the law says that if you sue and lose -- something that is virtually automatic given the language of the law -- you must pay the legal costs of the landowner.

Until a few years ago no law suits were ever filed because no lawyer would take a case with virtually no chance of winning.

Unfortunately, land trusts -- including the two I'm associated with -- have taken to buying insurance against non existent risks -- and some have settled nuicance suits out of court.

Weary 


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