29.1-509 - Duty of care and liability for damages of landowners to hunters, fishermen, sightseers, etc.
§ 29.1-509. Duty of care and liability for damages of landowners to hunters,fishermen, sightseers, etc.
A. For the purpose of this section:
"Fee" means any payment or payments of money to a landowner for use of thepremises or in order to engage in any activity described in subsections B andC, but does not include license fees, insurance fees, handling fees,transaction fees, administrative fees, rentals or similar fees received by alandowner from governmental, not-for-profit, or private sources, or paymentsreceived by a landowner for rights of ingress and egress or from incidentalsales of forest products to an individual for his personal use, or any actiontaken by another to improve the land or access to the land for the purposesset forth in subsections B and C or remedying damage caused by such uses.
"Land" or "premises" means real property or right-of-way, whether ruralor urban, waters, boats, private ways, natural growth, trees, railroadproperty, railroad right-of-way, utility corridor, and any building orstructure which might be located on such real property, waters, boats,private ways and natural growth.
"Landowner" means the legal title holder, any easement holder, lessee,occupant or any other person in control of land or premises, includingrailroad rights-of-way.
"Low-head dam" means a dam that is built across a river or stream for thepurpose of impounding water where the impoundment, at normal flow levels, iscompletely within the banks, and all flow passes directly over the entire damstructure within the banks, excluding abutments, to a natural channeldownstream.
B. A landowner shall owe no duty of care to keep land or premises safe forentry or use by others for hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, participationin water sports, boating, hiking, rock climbing, sightseeing, hang gliding,skydiving, horseback riding, foxhunting, racing, bicycle riding orcollecting, gathering, cutting or removing firewood, for any otherrecreational use, for ingress and egress over such premises to permit passageto other property used for recreational purposes or for use of an easementgranted to the Commonwealth or any agency thereof or any not-for-profitorganization granted tax-exempt status under § 501(c)(3) of the InternalRevenue Code to permit public passage across such land for access to a publicpark, historic site, or other public recreational area. No landowner shall berequired to give any warning of hazardous conditions or uses of, structureson, or activities on such land or premises to any person entering on the landor premises for such purposes, except as provided in subsection D. Theprovisions of this subsection apply without regard to whether the landownerhas given permission to a person to use their land for recreational purposes.
C. Any landowner who gives permission, express or implied, to another personto hunt, fish, launch and retrieve boats, swim, ride, foxhunt, trap, camp,hike, bicycle, rock climb, hang glide, skydive, sightsee, engage in races, tocollect, gather, cut or remove forest products upon land or premises for thepersonal use of such person, or for the use of an easement or license as setforth in subsection B does not thereby:
1. Impliedly or expressly represent that the premises are safe for suchpurposes; or
2. Constitute the person to whom such permission has been granted an inviteeor licensee to whom a duty of care is owed; or
3. Assume responsibility for or incur liability for any intentional ornegligent acts of such person or any other person, except as provided insubsection D.
D. Nothing contained in this section, except as provided in subsection E,shall limit the liability of a landowner which may otherwise arise or existby reason of his gross negligence or willful or malicious failure to guard orwarn against a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity. Theprovisions of this section shall not limit the liability of a landowner whichmay otherwise arise or exist when the landowner receives a fee for use of thepremises or to engage in any activity described in subsections B and C.Nothing contained in this section shall relieve any sponsor or operator ofany sporting event or competition including but not limited to a race ortriathlon of the duty to exercise ordinary care in such events. Nothingcontained in this section shall limit the liability of an owner of a low-headdam who fails to implement safety measures described in subsection F.
E. For purposes of this section, whenever any person enters into an agreementwith, or grants an easement or license to, the Commonwealth or any agencythereof, any locality, any not-for-profit organization granted tax-exemptstatus under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or any local orregional authority created by law for public park, historic site orrecreational purposes, concerning the use of, or access over, his land by thepublic for any of the purposes enumerated in subsections B and C, thegovernment, agency locality, not-for-profit organization, or authority withwhich the agreement is made shall indemnify and hold the landowner harmlessfrom all liability and be responsible for providing, or for paying the costof, all reasonable legal services required by any person entitled to thebenefit of this section as the result of a claim or suit attempting to imposeliability. Any action against the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof, fornegligence arising out of a use of land or railroad rights-of-way covered bythis section shall be subject to the provisions of the Virginia Tort ClaimsAct (§ 8.01-195.1 et seq.). Any provisions in a lease or other agreementwhich purports to waive the benefits of this section shall be invalid, andany action against any county, city, town, or local or regional authorityshall be subject to the provisions of § 15.2-1809, where applicable.
F. Any owner of a low-head dam may mark the areas above and below the dam andon the banks immediately adjacent to the dam with signs and buoys of a designand content, in accordance with the regulations of the Board, to warn theswimming, fishing, and boating public of the hazards posed by the dam. Anyowner of a low-head dam who marks a low-head dam in accordance with thissubsection shall be deemed to have met the duty of care for warning thepublic of the hazards posed by the dam. Any owner of a low-head dam who failsto mark a low-head dam in accordance with this subsection shall be presumednot to have met the duty of care for warning the public of the hazards posedby the dam.
(Code 1950, §§ 8-654.2, 29-130.2; 1962, c. 545; 1964, c. 435; 1977, c. 624;1979, c. 276; 1980, c. 560; 1982, c. 29; 1983, c. 283; 1987, c. 488; 1988, c.191; 1989, cc. 26, 500, 505; 1990, cc. 799, 808; 1991, c. 305; 1992, c. 285;1994, c. 544; 2007, c. 664; 2010, c. 43.)