{"id":98,"date":"2013-02-20T09:31:36","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T14:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/georgia-recreational-use-statute.html"},"modified":"2013-02-20T09:31:36","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T14:31:36","slug":"georgia-recreational-use-statute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/georgia-recreational-use-statute.html","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Recreational Use Statute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\n<\/a>\nSuppose you owned land next to a river.\nYou might have concerns about liability for people getting out of\ncanoes or kayaks onto your land.\nBut you’re in luck!\nGeorgia state law says you’re not liable for most things that could happen.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Georgia Recreational Use Statute is in\n\nO.C.G.A. \u00a751-3-20 through \u00a751-3-26.<\/a>\nHere are a few excerpts.\n<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a751-3-20. Purpose of article<\/h2>\nThe purpose of this article is to encourage owners of land to make\nland and water areas available to the public for recreational\npurposes by limiting the owners’ liability toward persons entering\nthereon for recreational purposes.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nDoes that include boating?\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\u00a751-3-21.\n(4) “Recreational purpose” includes, but is not limited to, any of the\nfollowing or any combination thereof: hunting, fishing, swimming, boating,\ncamping, picnicking, hiking, pleasure driving, nature study, water skiing,\nwinter sports, and viewing or enjoying historical, archeological, scenic,\nor scientific sites.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nYes, it includes boating, hiking, picnicking, and other things people\nmight be doing on or nearby a river.\nSo what liability is covered?\n<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a751-3-22. Duty of owner of land to those using same for recreation generally<\/h2>\nExcept as specifically recognized by or provided in Code Section 51-3-25,\nan owner of land owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for\nentry or use by others for recreational purposes or to give any warning\nof a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity on the premises\nto persons entering for recreational purposes.\n

\nHISTORY: Ga. L. 1965, p. 476, s 3.\n<\/p>\n

O.C.G.A. \u00a7 51-3-23 (1994)<\/h2>\n

\n\u00a751-3-23. Effect of invitation or permission to use land for recreation\n<\/h2>\nExcept as specifically recognized by or provided in Code Section 51-3-25,\nan owner of land who either directly or indirectly invites or permits\nwithout charge any person to use the property for recreational purposes\ndoes not thereby:\n

\n(1) Extend any assurance that the premises are safe for any purpose;\n<\/p>\n

\n(2) Confer upon such person the legal status of an invitee or licensee\nto whom a duty of care is owed; or\n<\/p>\n

\n(3) Assume responsibility for or incur liability for any injury to person\nor property caused by an act of omission of such persons.\n<\/p>\n

\nHISTORY: Ga. L. 1965, p. 476, s 4.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nThere’s a bit more in the statute, and while I’m not a lawyer,\nit looks to me like unless a landowner deliberately makes it unsafe\nfor people to step ashore or gain access, the landowner is not liable\nif someone falls and breaks a leg or is otherwise injured after coming\nashore from a river.\n\n<\/a>\nI don’t know what it would take to be liable; maybe not even\n\ndeliberately closing off a public road leading to a river<\/a>,\nif people could still walk over the barricade.\n<\/p>\n

\n-jsq\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suppose you owned land next to a river. You might have concerns about liability for people getting out of canoes or kayaks onto your land. But you’re in luck! Georgia state law says you’re not liable for most things that could happen. The Georgia Recreational Use Statute is in O.C.G.A. \u00a751-3-20 through \u00a751-3-26. Here are […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[48,40,8,2,20,88,469,21,22,73,449,55],"tags":[453,567,8720,8717,8701,565,8699,568,454,455,8702,8710,566,12,7,8734,8770,569,8711,8712,8731,8767,6,8727],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-code-enforcement","category-community","category-georgia","category-government","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-naylor","category-planning","category-politics","category-safety","category-transportation","category-water","tag-alapaha-river","tag-boating","tag-code-enforcement","tag-community","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-recreational-use-statute","tag-government","tag-hiking","tag-hotchkiss-crossing","tag-hotchkiss-landing","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-liability","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-naylor","tag-picnicking","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-safety","tag-transportation","tag-valdosta","tag-water"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}