Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Poachers/ tresspassers

Aren't you guys allowed to shoot first ask questions later in Texas? Or is that Arkansas?

I was excited at first to inform my insurance company of my new pond... I figured providing a rural water supply for fire-fighting application, if ever needed, would decrease my premium... how foolish I was. When the first question I was asked was whether or not it was fenced I realized I probably should have kept my mouth shut. But at least now my insurance company can't bail on me if heaven forbid anything ever happens.

Like everyone says, it is a crazy world when criminals can sue you for getting hurt whilst breaking the law... I just don't get it.

It is sad that a landowner can be sued when a trespasser, without permission, invades his property and gets hurt. However, although it is true that it can happen, the installation of fencing, and signs; can help you in court. If you took "reasonable efforts" to keep trespassers out, you will have a better defense than if you did nothing.

It depends on the court, the judge, and the circumstance. But often, in the cases that I have heard of, when a landowner had fences and signs, that was in HIS favor. Locked gates were, in the cases that I have heard, the biggest thing in the landowners favor. If the gate is locked, and a trespasser crawls over it; that trespasser took steps to overcome the "reasonable efforts" the landowner had taken to keep people out.

From my limited experience, that was the biggest factor in limiting liability. (at least here in Texas)

I have heard that in Texas your signs must be at least every 300 yards to hold up in court. Don't know if that is accurate but have heard that is the case.

Pottsy,

We must share the same insurance company. They gave me the same story about a pond being a liability and should be fenced. Can't wait till the town assessor sees the pond.

Russ

Tim,

Read my above post as to how far apart signs and or paint must be in the state of Texas. The signs and or paint must be clearly visible when approaching the property.

Newbee

Just want you guys to know I wasn't disagreeing with anything you said. I have the highest respect for everyone that posts on this site compared to other sites I frequent.

Taking the necessary precautions makes sense although I will limit mine to signs as I couldn't bare to put up an ugly fence. That's probably dumb but that's me.

It's not a bad thing to be upset by what lawyers have done to our legal system --have you heard about the teenagers that are suing McDonalds for making them fat? Talk about a frivilous lawsuit and not taking responsibility for your own actions! I will really be mad if they win!

The bottomline is someone can sue you for any reason they want to sue you. Doesn't mean they can win but then you are forced to spend the money to defend yourself. This is the reason I have the farm liability insurance with my homeowners as well as an additional umbrella over all my insurance. It costs very little to do(@$250 for 500m for one and the umbrella is another 2 million and is @200-300)and gives me peace of mind. We have a ranch with 2 lakes(6acre and 11 acre) and 9 tanks. You do need to do all the things that ya'll have been saying to keep people off but I would suggest it is crazy not to have the additional insurance. One of the big reasons we still do this is we want to protect ourselves from both the people we don't invite as well as the people we do let on the property. We have people that we know real well that we invite up but if someone gets hurt I'm not sure I can know 100% certain how everyone is going to react. The other thing is someone will always ask if they can bring a friend too that we may not know real well. If we were totally giving in to our society we would have to be so restrictive of who could come that it ruins all the fun so that is the reason we carry the extra on our homeowners and the umbrella. We also use the place to entertain customers so we have the umbrella there to protect our company as well. Just a thought. Everyone was talking about keeping trespassers off and the liabilities involved in that but we need to protect ourselves all the way around and it doesn't cost that much to do it. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone