Jury Awards $2 Million to Golfer's Family

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Kristine Meredith

This week a San Diego jury found a golf course responsible for the death of a golfer who was killed after falling off an 80 foot cliff in a golf cart and awarded his family $2 million.  The golfer Edwin Payne tried to make a U-turn on the golf path but drove over a small inner curb, lost control of the cart on a slope veiled by trees, and eventually was catapulted over the cliff.  As discussed here, the property owner must  keep its property in a safe condition and warn of any unsafe conditions.The jury determined that the Pala Mesa golf course should have installed a higher curb and failed to warn him about the cliff behind the trees.  The award will be reduced by 30% because the jury assigned partial fault to Mr. Payne based upon the principle of comparative fault previously discussed here.

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Compensation for Injury on Another's Property

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Kristine Meredith

A property owner must keep his property in a reasonably safe condition. He must discover any unsafe conditions and repair, replace or warn of any condition he could expect to harm others. 

His reasonableness will be measured by the following factors:

  • Location of the property
  • Likelihood that someone would come on to the property as the victim did
  • Likelihood of harm
  • Probable seriousness of such harm
  • Whether he knew or should have known of the condition that created the risk of harm
  • Difficulty of protecting against the risk of such harm
  • Extent of his control over the condition that created the risk of harm.

But if the city, state or the federal government owns the property, then the rules are different and getting compensation for an injury is more difficult.
 

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