There are cases in which having an attractive nuisance on your property can lead to injuries. Homeowners who have not done enough to protect the public may be liable for those injuries.
An attractive nuisance is basically something that is going to be attractive to young people or children. It is also inherently hazardous, so parents wouldn’t want children going by it while unsupervised. But, since it naturally attracts them, this tends to happen.
The actual homeowners are often not involved in the event. They don’t know that it’s happening until the child is injured and needs medical care. But it still happens on their property, so they may be responsible for what took place. If the property is shown to be inherently dangerous and insufficiently protected, that’s a major problem.
What if the children are trespassing?
The argument that is sometimes made is that the children were trespassing. For instance, if a child goes into someone’s backyard and falls in the pool, that homeowner may express remorse, but they may say that they never told the child to go in the pool or opened their yard for access anyway. They may even claim that they put up “No Trespassing” signs that the child ignored.
But it may be determined that the homeowner still needed to take more steps to protect the child from the attractive nuisance. For instance, a homeowner may be required to have a fence around the pool, and it should have a gate that a child can’t open on their own. If the homeowner neglected to do this, they certainly didn’t want to cause the tragic accident, but they should’ve done more to prevent it.
Those who find themselves in this position need to know about all their legal options.
