Recreational use statutes limit a landowner's duty to persons entering without charge for recreational purposes, typically to refraining from willful or malicious failure to warn of known dangers.
Immunity is generally lost where a fee is charged.
Alternative Names:
Landowner Recreational Immunity, Recreational Land Immunity
Why it Matters?
These statutes were enacted to encourage landowners to open property for public recreation, and they provide a near-complete defense where they apply. The threshold questions are whether the activity qualifies as recreational under the statute's definition, whether a fee was charged, and whether the entrant's purpose was recreational. Definitions vary enough that the same activity qualifies in one state and not another.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What defeats recreational use immunity?
Do the statutes cover the same activities everywhere?
