Trail Hazard: How Recreation Laws Impede Mass Attack Cases

A string of recent massacres on boardwalks, bike paths, and other byways may test the strength of state immunity laws designed to encourage the public use of lands.

The laws, first proposed by the Council of State Governments in 1965 and now enacted in every state, shield public and private landowners from tort suits for injuries that occur while their properties are being used for public recreational use.

But those property owner protections come at the risk of restricting litigation options for victims of mass attacks that have occurred on public byways and who may, or already have, filed suits, ...