HF 251 (LSB 1734HV (1) 87)

HOUSE FILE 251

BY  COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 35)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the liability of possessors and occupants of land for injury to trespassers and including applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  462.1  Liability of possessors and occupants of land to trespassers.
   1.  A possessor of any fee, reversionary, or easement interest in real property, including but not limited to an owner, lessee, or other lawful occupant, owes no duty of care to a trespasser except to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring the trespasser and to use reasonable care to avoid injuring the trespasser after that trespasser’s presence becomes known.
   2.  This section shall not be construed to affect the common law doctrine of attractive nuisance.
   3.  This section does not create or increase the civil liability of any possessor or occupant of real property and does not affect any immunities from or defenses to civil liability established by another section of the Code or available at common law to which a possessor or occupant of real property may be entitled.
    Sec. 2.  APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies to all causes of action accrued on or after the effective date of this Act.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to the liability of a possessor or occupant of land for injury to a trespasser.
   The bill provides that a possessor of any fee, reversionary, or easement interest in real property, including but not limited to an owner, lessee, or other lawful occupant, owes no duty of care to a trespasser except to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring the trespasser and to use reasonable care to avoid injuring the trespasser after that trespasser’s presence becomes known.
   The bill does not affect the common law doctrine of attractive nuisance, which imposes a duty on a landowner to protect children from dangerous conditions of or items on the property that will foreseeably attract children onto the property. 
   The bill does not create or increase the civil liability of any possessor or occupant of real property and does not affect any immunities from or defenses to civil liability established by another Code section or available at common law to which a possessor or occupant of real property may be entitled.
   The bill applies to all causes of action accrued on or after the effective date of the bill.