Insurance / liability query

[RichardT]

The local community (parish) council has asked me to donate a village Xmas tree, I'm happy to oblige and have picked out a nicely shaped Sitka that'll trim down to 20'-odd.

 

I confidently predict that at least one of the crew will show up with a Homebase saw and a big grin in the expectation of pulling some cool Ax Men moves. My assumption is that as the landowner, if I let them loose on my land and someone performs amateur surgery on themselves I could be royally f***ed, notwithstanding the normal liability policies in place, even in the unlikely event of pukka PPE and tickets being in evidence.

 

OTOH I'd quite like to stand around with a brew and film the mayhem - assuming someone can demonstrate that they know what they're doing - if there's any legally safe way of doing so. Failing which I'll fell & sned and leave them to wrestle it onto the trailer.

 

Any advice on the legal niceties appreciated.

[HCR]

This relates to US law, but ours is substantially the same:

 

The Licensee. A licensee is a person who is on the property for his or her own benefit. The licensee is not invited onto the property but is there with the possessor's permission or acquiescence. A person who has permission to cut firewood on the property is an example of a licensee.

The possessor owes a lesser duty of care to a licensee than to an invitee. The required duty is one of preventing harm where the possessor is aware of a dangerous condition with which the licensee could come into contact. The possessor is not obligated to prevent harm from unknown dangerous conditions. The possessor must either:

 

a. Make safe any known dangerous conditions that the licensee would be expected to encounter, or

 

b. Warn the licensee of known dangerous conditions that have not been eliminated.

 

 

And from LexisNexis

 

A licensee is someone who enters the land with the express or implied consent of the land possessor, as is the case with social guests. The licensee takes the property in the condition in which the land possessor uses it. A land possessor may be liable to a licensee injured by a condition on the property where the land possessor knows of a dangerous condition on the property, fails to make the condition safe or to warn the licensee about the risk involved, and the licensee does not know about the danger nor would be expected to discover the dangerous condition. Where the presence of a licensee is known or should be known to the defendant, most jurisdictions require land possessors to use reasonable care in carrying out activities on the property.

 

 

So, they would be licensees, and this brings with it a lower duty of care than if they were invitees. Cover yourself with a risk assessment (usual standard of control measures etc), get them to sign it, give them a copy and film away. Delete the clip where the vicar cuts the verger's head off though.

[Justme]

Yet oddly a burglar or treaspasser gets the full rights yet was not invited or given a licence......

[HCR]

Yet oddly a burglar or treaspasser gets the full rights yet was not invited or given a licence......

 

Nonsense.

 

The Occupiers' Liability Act 1984 provides for the level of the duty of care owed to trespassers and it is not the same as for a visitor/invitee.

[RichardT]

Thanks for that. Doable then, but this lot could easily stretch a trivial paperwork exercise into three meetings, two subcommittees and a study group, so on balance I'll just cut the tree down for them.

[felixthelogchopper]

Thanks for that. Doable then, but this lot could easily stretch a trivial paperwork exercise into three meetings, two subcommittees and a study group, so on balance I'll just cut the tree down for them.

 

Best idea. At least you haven't got any contractual liabilities as you are giving the tree as a gift so all you need concern yourself with are your obligations under the respective Occupier's Liability Acts when they collect it.

[felixthelogchopper]

Nonsense.

 

The Occupiers' Liability Act 1984 provides for the level of the duty of care owed to trespassers and it is not the same as for a visitor/invitee.

 

[RichardT]

Excellent.

 

presumably if I cut my own head off I can be pursued beyond the grave for damages arising from the trauma of watching it?