Alright, this is starting to get into Civil Law, which is out of my field of expertise. I spoke with my attorney brother and got some clarification on the subject.
In the world we live in you could be sued for just about anything! I just read that McDonald's is being sued for making people fat, if you can believe that? Now, having said this, having an issurance policy on your property is of course a good idea and highly recommended. My brother suggested that you show some type of device (ie. signs, fenceing) that make it apparent that trespassing is not permitted. Also showing that you have in the past issued trespass warnings to subjects or have filed trespassing charges, lessons your liablity to law suits.
Just having a pond does not automatically make you liable for bodily injury/death that occurs on your property. The fact that you ignore trespassers and let people come and go as they please does make you libale. I'll give you a real example. A local company aquired a large parcel of land that had a large lake on it. The local kids called it the "blue hole" and they went there almost every weekend, swimming and fishing.
The company knew of this trespassing, but didn't do anthing about it, thus in affect granting them permission to be there. The kids attached a rope to one of the trees close to the bank and would swing out into the water. The company knew of the swing, but did not remove it, nor did they contact the authorities when the kids were sighted. The employees would actually wave at the kids as they drove by. This was where their liablity came into effect.
One of the children swingging out into the lake fell from the tree and was paralyzed from the waist down. The childs parents sued and won a sizable judgement. Now you know and I know that the kids should not have been on the property, but the jury found that the company should not have permitted them to be there. The killer for the company was the fact that there was a fence that surrounded the property and a gate, but the gate was always left open. By the emloyees ignoring the childrens presense, they placed the company in a position of liablity.
I am not tying to scare anyone that owns a pond, but it is something that all of us need to think about. If you let people come and go as they please, you are opening yourself up to a law suit. The sad thing about it is when I was a young boy, one of our neighbors had a large lake that I loved to fish and swim in. As a matter of fact some of my fondest childhood memories were made on the banks of that lake, but the world has changed and people are sueing resturants for being fat, for gods sake!!! It is therefore recommended that we protect ourselves.
I would like to point out that I am not an attorney nor do i want to be. I'm just passing on infromation. Hope this helps!!!
Newbee
