Wolfe v. Rehbein

49 Citing cases

  1. Greene v. DiFazio

    148 Conn. 419 (Conn. 1961)   Cited 42 times
    In Green v. DiFazio, 148 Conn. 419, 171 A.2d 411, and Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 193 A. 608, this court adopted the rule stated in the Restatement, 2 Torts 339, with respect to the liability of the possessor of property for physical harm to young children trespassing thereon caused by an artificial condition upon the land.

    One in possession of property ordinarily owes no duty to trespassers, either infant or adult, to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition for their use, since he may properly assume that they will not be there. When, however, as in this case, the possessor knows or should know that children are in the habit of trespassing on a part of the property on which he maintains a condition which is likely to be dangerous to them, he may be held liable for harm resulting to them therefrom. Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 113, 193 A. 608. In that case, we adopted the rule which is stated in the Restatement, 2 Torts 339. It subjects the possessor of property to liability for harm caused to young children trespassing thereon by a condition which he maintains if (a) he knows or should know that young children are likely to trespass; (b) the condition is one of which he knows or should know and which he realizes or should realize involves an unreasonable risk of serious injury to such children; (c) the children because of their immaturity do not discover the condition or realize the risk involved in intermeddling in it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it; and (d) the utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition is slight as compared to the risk to the children.

  2. Moonan v. Clark Wellpoint Corporation

    159 Conn. 178 (Conn. 1970)   Cited 19 times
    In Moonan v. Clark Wellpoint Corporation, 159 Conn. 178, 191, 268 A.2d 384, we stated that this rule also applies when a child is a licensee.

    Under the circumstances the jury could have found that the condition thus created and maintained was one of which the defendant knew or should have known and of which it realized or should have realized involved an immediate risk of serious injury to young children who, because of their immaturity, would not discover the condition or recognize the risk involved in intermeddling in it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it. Consequently, on the claims of proof with the inferences which were permissible for the jury to draw, the plaintiff was entitled to a charge under the doctrine set forth in Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 113, and Greene v. DiFazio, 148 Conn. 419. The child licensee here was entitled to at least as much protection as a trespasser and the trial court erred in failing so to instruct the jury. So far as there is language in Schiavone v. Falango, 149 Conn. 293, 296, to the contrary, it can no longer be regarded as a correct statement of the law on the status and rights of a child who is a gratuitous licensee.

  3. McGettigan v. National Bank of Washington

    320 F.2d 703 (D.C. Cir. 1963)   Cited 22 times
    In McGettigan, this court again rejected the contention that a landowner could be held liable only where a trespassing child was injured by the hazard that attracted him onto the premises.

    This ceased to be a serious obstacle to recovery, however, when courts began to abandon the fiction of an invitation by allurement and recognized — as the Restatement has — another basis for the result reached in such cases as Stout, namely, the value of the lives of children to society. See, e.g., Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 193 A. 608 (1937); Drew v. Lett, 95 Ind. App. 89, 182 N.E. 547 (1932). And compare Best v. District of Columbia, 291 U.S. 411, 54 S.Ct. 487, 78 L.Ed. 540 (1934), Sioux City Pacific R. Co. v. Stout, supra, and Eastburn v. Levin, 72 App.D.C. 190, 113 F.2d 176 (1940), with United Zinc Chemical Co. v. Britt, 258 U.S. 268, 42 S.Ct. 299, 66 L.Ed. 615 (1922), and Branan v. Wimsatt, 54 App. D.C. 374, 298 F. 833 (1924).

  4. Duggan v. Esposito

    422 A.2d 287 (Conn. 1979)   Cited 20 times
    In Duggan v. Esposito, 178 Conn. 156, 158, 422 A.2d 287 (1979), we approved of the rule stated in the Restatement (Second) of Torts 339, "with respect to the liability of the possessor of property for physical harm to children.

    The defendants claim: (1) the court erred in instructing the jury that the law concerning the liability of a possessor of land to trespassing children was applicable to the defendants; and (2) even if that law was applicable to them, the charge as given was an incorrect statement of the law. In Kline v. New York, N.H. H.R. Co., 160 Conn. 187, 191, 276 A.2d 890; Greene v. DiFazio, 148 Conn. 419, 171 A.2d 411; and Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 193 A. 608, we approved the rule stated in the Restatement, 2 Torts 339, with respect to the liability of the possessor of property for physical harm to children. Presently, the rule provides: "A possessor of land is subject to liability for physical harm to children trespassing thereon caused by an artificial condition upon the land if (a) the place where the condition exists is one upon which the possessor knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass, and (b) the condition is one of which the possessor knows or has reason to know and which he realizes or should realize will involve an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily harm to such children, and (c) the children because of their youth do not discover the condition or realize the risk involved in intermeddling with it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it, and (d) the utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition and the burden of eliminating the danger are slight as compared with the risk to ch

  5. Knight v. Kaiser Co.

    48 Cal.2d 778 (Cal. 1957)   Cited 21 times

    As Chief Justice Beatty stated such culpability turns on "the reasonableness and propriety of" the defendant's "conduct, in view of all surrounding circumstances and conditions," or, in other words, it is determined by applying familiar negligence standards. (Accord: Gimmestad v. Rose Bros. Co., 194 Minn. 531 [ 261 N.W. 194, 196]; Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110 [ 193 A. 608, 609-610]; Foster v. Lusk, 129 Ark. 1 [194 S.W. 855, 856]; Kahn v. James Burton Co., 51 Ill. 614 [ 126 N.E.2d 836, 841-842].) Section 339 of the Restatement of Torts has defined these standards by stating four conditions that must be satisfied to impose liability on a possessor of land for injury to trespassing children caused by a structure or other artificial condition on the land.

  6. Yeske v. Avon Old Farms School, Inc.

    1 Conn. App. 195 (Conn. App. Ct. 1984)   Cited 59 times
    Noting that "[i]t is a question for the jury to decide if a defendant is maintaining a latently dangerous instrumentality on his premises which is so exposed that he may reasonably anticipate that a child is likely to be hurt by it" and that "[i]t is also for the jury to decide if a defendant knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass on that portion of his land where the instrumentality is located," and that "[e]ven if there is no evidence that any child had previously trespassed on the site, it remains a jury question whether, based on all of the evidence, the defendants knew or had reason to know that children were likely to trespass on the place where the condition existed"

    There is no disagreement of the parties as to when liability of a landowner attaches if there is physical harm to a minor trespasser caused by an artificial condition upon the land. Connecticut follows the rule of 2 Restatement (Second), Torts 339, Duggan v. Esposito, 178 Conn. 156, 158, 422 A.2d 287 (1979); Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 113-14, 193 A. 608 (1937). The disagreement of the parties relates to the application of the restatement rule to the facts of this case, and to the interpretation of the words contained in the rule of 2 Restatement (Second), Torts 339(a).

  7. Eichelberg v. National R.R. Passenger Corp.

    57 F.3d 1179 (2d Cir. 1995)   Cited 10 times
    Recognizing Connecticut General Statute § 52–572h(l ) and state case law had eliminated doctrine of assumption of risk

    Under the second exception recognized by the district court, a landowner is liable for injuries to children caused by an artificial condition on the landowner's property if the landowner knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass and are not likely to appreciate the danger. Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 113-14, 193 A. 608 (1937); see also Morin, 223 Conn. at 333, 612 A.2d at 1202; Duggan v. Esposito, 178 Conn. 156, 158, 422 A.2d 287, 290 (1979). As the district court observed, Eichelberg, who at the time of the incident in question was a 34-year-old adult of supposedly sound mind, cannot avail himself of the Wolfe exception.

  8. Colon v. Metro-N. Commuter R.R. Co.

    242 F. Supp. 3d 65 (D. Conn. 2017)   Cited 5 times

    ng thereon caused by an artificial condition [on] the land if (a) the place where the condition exists is one [on] which the possessor knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass, and (b) the condition is one of which the possessor knows or has reason to know and which he realizes or should realize will involve an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily harm to such children, and (c) the children because of their youth do not discover the condition or realize the risk involved in intermeddling with it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it, and (d) the utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition and the burden of eliminating the danger are slight as compared with the risk to children involved, and (e) the possessor fails to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or otherwise to protect the children." Ruiz v. Victory Properties, LLC , 315 Conn. 320, 333 n.6, 107 A.3d 381 (2015) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 339 ); see alsoWolfe v. Rehbein , 123 Conn. 110, 193 A. 608 (1937) (applying § 339 ).Plaintiff has adduced sufficient evidence for trial as to all of these requirements.

  9. Broadway v. Blythe Industries, Inc.

    313 N.C. 150 (N.C. 1985)   Cited 14 times
    Setting forth and adopting elements of attractive nuisance doctrine as provided by section 339 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts

    On the other hand, once those who create a condition upon the land on behalf of the possessor know or should know that children are likely to trespass upon that part of the land on which they maintain a condition which is likely to be dangerous to them, they may, like the owner, be liable for harm resulting to them therefrom. McPheters v. Loomis, supra, 125 Conn. 531-33, 7 A.2d 437; Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 113, 193 A. 608. Duggan v. Esposito, 178 Conn. 156, 159-60, 422 A.2d 287, 289 (1979) (subcontractor who left pipes on truck in driveway at construction site liable for injury of child hurt by pipes).

  10. Zarembski v. Three Lakes Park, Inc.

    177 Conn. 603 (Conn. 1979)   Cited 31 times
    Holding construction company had actual notice of dangerous condition that its employees created

    Where a landowner knows or should know that children are likely to use his land upon which he maintains a condition which is likely to be dangerous to the children, the landowner may be held liable for harm resulting to the children from the dangerous condition. Moonan v. Clark Wellpoint Corporation, 159 Conn. 178, 186-92, 268 A.2d 384; McPheters v. Loomis, 125 Conn. 526, 532, 7 A.2d 437; Wolfe v. Rehbein, 123 Conn. 110, 113, 193 A. 608. See Restatement (Second), Torts 339. We have held that a defendant is deemed to have actual notice of a dangerous condition created by one of its employees and have stated that where there is evidence that a dangerous condition has existed for a reasonable length of time it would also support a claim of constructive notice; see Warren v. Stancliff, 157 Conn. 216, 219, 251 A.2d 74; Foster v. Hartford Buick Co., 131 Conn. 348, 350-51, 39 A.2d 884; likewise we have declared that the jurors are entitled to draw reasonable, logical and proper inferences from the facts in evidence that it was more probable than not that the defendants had notice of the specific dangerous condition which was responsible for the plaintiff's injury. Hennessey v. Hennessey, 145 Conn. 211, 214-16, 140 A.2d 473. The verdict of the jury must stand if the evidence is such as to justify in their minds a reasonable belief of the probability of the existence of the material facts.