Youngstown Daily Legal News

Justices side with man injured by flying rock from mower at state park

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: April 27, 2016

A closely divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 this week against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Recreation in a case involving the injury of a fisherman at Indian Lake State Park.

The majority decision, authored by Justice Terrence O’Donnell, upheld the judgment of the 10th District Court of Appeals, which had previously reversed summary judgment in favor of ODNR.

The case stemmed from an action filed by Richard Combs for injuries he sustained when an ODNR boom mower threw a rock that struck him in the eye.

According to case summary, Combs was celebrating his birthday on July weekend in 2011 in Indian Lake State Park.

He spent the night fishing and early the next morning walked to Pew Island where he planned to continue fishing.

As Combs walked across a causeway, the blade from a boom mower operated by an ODNR employee struck one of the stones placed along the waterline to prevent erosion.

The rock went flying and struck Combs in the eye, causing injuries that were not specified in court documents.

Initially, a court of claims sided with ODNR, ruling that Combs was a recreational park user and ODNR had no duty to keep the park safe for his entry or use.

The 10th District Court of Appeals reversed that decision with a holding that, even though ODNR was not responsible for defects in the premises, it could be held liable for injuries caused by the negligence of a park employee.

On appeal to the state Supreme Court, ODNR argued that the recreational user statute prevents negligence claims when a user enters the land without paying a fee and that it was entitled to absolute immunity.

Combs, on the other hand, argued that he was not injured by the condition of the premises and that immunity did not extend to ODNR when his injury was caused by the negligence of the employee.

The high court sided with Combs and the 10th District court’s previous ruling.

“The immunity afforded by the recreational user statute is not absolute, rather, R.C. 1533.181 limits the liability of landowners for injuries to recreational users in three ways,” Justice O’Donnell wrote.

First, the statute provides that a landowner does not need to keep the premises safe for a recreational user’s or trespasser’s entry or use.

It also states that granting permission to enter the property is not an assurance of safety and that a landowner is not liable for injuries caused by the user’s own acts.

“The General Assembly could have provided that a landowner owes no duty whatsoever to any recreational user or that a landowner is not liable for injury caused by the act of the landowner or its employees,” O’Donnell wrote, “but, tellingly, it did not do so.”

The high court’s majority held that the recreational user statute is “limited in scope” and does not protect a landowner when it comes to the negligence of his or her employee.

“Here, the evidence shows that the injury to Combs arose from the alleged negligent operation of a boom mower and therefore, the recreational user statute does not preclude liability for such a claim if Combs can establish that negligence,” O’Donnell concluded.

In her dissent, Justice Sharon Kennedy wrote that the majority incorrectly held that Combs’ injury was caused by something other than the land.

“Combs admits that he was a recreational user and claims that he was injured by a rock,” Kennedy wrote. “Recreational premises include elements such as land, water, trees, grass and other vegetation.”

The fact that the boom mower cause the rock to fly through the air was “of no consequence,” according to Kennedy, because what actually caused the injury was considered part of the park land.

Justices Judith Lanzinger and Judith French joined Kennedy in her dissent.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Paul Pfeifer and William O’Neill joined O’Donnell to form the majority and affirm the judgment of the 10th District Court of Appeals.

The case is cited Combs v. Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, Div. of Parks & Recreation, Slip Opinion No. 2016-Ohio-1565.

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