WAS OWNER AFFIRMATIVELY NEGLIGENT FOR PROVIDING BAD RATCHET STRAP?
After M.D. fell from a tree stand on property owned by R.H., and his spouse, N.H., a personal-injury lawsuit was filed in the Steuben County Supreme Court.
Apparently, R.H. had installed the stand, but got M.D. to do the platform, and supplied a ladder and a ratchet strap to secure the stand to the tree. Interestingly, of the three straps that R.H. had purchased for the installation, one broke when he tested it.
Once the installation was complete, while M.D. was testing the platform, the ratchet broke, causing him to fall to the ground and sustain injuries, thus leading to the litigation.
After the defendants were found liable for negligence, they appealed to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, which didn’t buy their “recreational use,” or “intervening superceding cause” arguments, particularly given the fact that this case was not about the “condition of the land,” but about R.H.’s “affirmative negligence” in supplying a faulty strap to the installer.
Although the record didn’t support a finding of liability against the spouse (N.H.), the AD4 ultimately let the judgment against R.H. stand.
Now guess who really took the fall there?
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DECISION