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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Are Iowa Farmers Now Open to Lawsuits? Maybe Not

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Monday, April 22, 2013   

DES MOINES, Iowa - Every spring, thousands of elementary schoolchildren take field trips to farms. Until a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision, most farmers believed they were protected from lawsuits brought by visitors to their property under a so-called "recreational use" statute. Now, many farm organizations are concerned that the court ruling opens farmers up to liability if someone is hurt on a field trip. And according to Ed Cox, fellow at the Drake Agriculture Law Center, farmers may be worried about hosting field days.

"Possibility for concern for people that are going to farms, you know, learning from other farmers, so, taking tours of different kinds of crop rotations or different methods of farming, those types of things."

He said this shouldn't stop them from hosting field trips, either for children or adults, and that they should simply take some precautions.

"The biggest thing is to talk to their insurance agent; I think that's number one. And you know, that's what most people rely on to begin with, is not the statute, but their insurance policy."

Cox said some farmers may opt for having visitors sign waivers, which he called a useful tool in limiting liability, but cautions not to rely on them. He said a landowner who wants protection using the current recreational use statute should make it clear that an invitation to use the property only extends to the activities covered by the law.

Read the case summary at bit.ly/ZCD1Zh.




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