Towns Could Get Break From Recreational Liability

Thanks to the passage of a bill concerning the recreational liability of municipalities, Connecticut towns and their recreation enthusiasts are on the brink of a collective sigh of relief.

The general assembly voted to pass the bill, proposed as House Bill 5315, just hours before the legislative session came to an end last week.

Authored by State Rep. David Baram (D-Windsor, Bloomfield), the bill was crafted in reaction to the Metropolitan District Commission's threat to close public access to its recreational land following a loss in court in the spring of 2010. 

A Rocky Hill woman sued for injuries sustained at the MDC's West Hartford Reservoir property. She was awarded $2.9 million for injuries sustained after riding her bike into a closed gate.

The ruling led the water supply and pollution-control company to threaten to close the recreation areas it owns throughout the state, including West Hartford's Reservoir and Reservoir 6, New Hartford's Lake McDonough, and the Colebrook River Lake and West Branch reservoirs.

The ruling also extended far beyond MDC's properties as the court did not believe that current legislation was designed to protect municipalities. "[Current legislation] was intended to apply to a private landowner who had no obligation to make its land available to the public," Baram said at the time of the bill's introduction.

Such a ruling meant that towns could find themselves on the wrong side of a lawsuit similar to the MDC case, effectively jeopardizing their ability to confidently provide public access to treasured recreational lands.

Local lands that could be jeopardized if the bill is not signed into law include:

• Wickham Park, Manchester/East Hartford
• Lynch Landing, Mansfield

Backed by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, in addition to local environmental agencies and support on both sides of the the aisle in the General Assembly, the bill only needs a signature from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to become law.

“I am obviously very happy and grateful that this important legislation was passed by the Senate," Baram said. "The bill, passed previously by the House, had more than 100 co-sponsors. Democrats and Republicans from both chambers supported it."

With the Governor's signature, Baram added, the bill will "help guarantee the public’s right to use municipal land for recreation. It also will encourage towns to open up more lands for active and passive recreation without having to worry about lawsuits that are not well-grounded."

While providing protection for cases in which users of recreational lands act in a negligent manner, it does not fully exempt towns or "quasi-municipal" entities from providing a safe environment in areas use by the public, according to Baram.

"The exception is that if a landowner is found to be willful or malicious, failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition or use, then they are liable," said Baram. "But the 'willful or malicious' are higher standard in terms of negligence."

Pursuant to the bill's language, owners of recreational land for public use would remain responsible for maintaing a safe environment and would be held responsible in the event that someone is injured due to the owner's lapse of responsibility.

An injury caused by a fallen tree limb or icy path are cases in which towns would remain liable.