PA Bill to Broaden Immunity from Lawsuits for Landowners
1 05 2008PATTON PA— State Rep. Gary Haluska, D-Patton, said it gives him heartburn to think of the degradation that motorbikes and all-terrain vehicles could cause the environment if given free reign over private property.
The lawmaker and others from the state House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee met at the borough’s fire hall Wednesday morning to discuss legislation encouraging more landowners to open their property to recreation, including ATV riding, fishing, boating and nature watching.
The bill aims to broaden immunity from lawsuits for landowners when someone suffers an injury participating in a recreational activity on their property.
It amends in several ways a law originated in 1966, which encouraged landowners to make their spaces available for public recreation.
It broadens the definitions of land, recreational purpose and willful and malicious and expands immunity for landowners who receive some types of compensation.
Haluska said the bill needs to be tweaked, noting that people still face a risk at recreational areas such as Rock Run for ATV riding, ski areas and golf courses, but those are controlled situations.
“I’m afraid if we open it up everywhere, we’ll open up a Pandora’s box of a lot of environmental issues,” he said. “It’s just the nature of the business: To make trails exciting and fun, they have to be challenging.”
Dick Lepley, who owns Street Track ’n Trail, an ATV dealer in Conneaut Lake, Crawford County, said the problem is not degradation to the environment.
“When they’re given a trail that challenges and satisfies them, they stay on that trail,” he said of ATV riders. “These people still don’t have a place to ride, and that’s the real issue.”
Challenging trails lead to risks when participating in such activities, Haluska said. He said the state has worked to open public lands to more activity, including snowmobiling, but should do more.
However, today’s demand for “quality outdoor experiences” exceeds what public entities can provide, said J. Gary Moore, legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
“A prediction made in the early 1960s indicated that outdoor recreation would triple by the year 2000,” he said. “Just 15 years later, in 1977, this milestone was broken.”
The solution to demand exceeding public supply is use of private land, Moore said.
But with increased liability concerns, landowners have become reluctant to open their land for fear of being sued, said Fred Brown, representing the Motorcycle Industry Council, Pennsylvania Off-Highway Vehicle Association, Pennsylvania State Snowmobile Association and registered ATV and snowmobile owners.
“If the act is to meet and sustain the purpose for which it was created,” he said of the original legislation, “and if we are to see privately owned lands play the strategic role in meeting the increased demand for public outdoor recreation, then the changes proposed in House Bill 1908 are a good and worthy step in that direction.”
