Scores of climbers, walker, joggers, hikers and bikers came to the legislative office building today to speak out in support of a bill that would grant limited immunity from lawsuits to municipalities that open their land to the public for recreational use.
They said the measure is needed to protect cities, towns and water companies from lawsuits brought by people injured on their property. Last year, a woman who crashed her bicycle into a closed gate while mountain biking at the West Hartford reservoir won a $2.9 million legal judgement against the Metropolitan District. In response, the MDC threatened to close its reservoirs to the public, but relented in the face of overwhelming public opposition.
The bill before the Judiciary Committee, one of several similar proposals pending before the General Assembly this session, also drew widespread support from municipal leaders and public health experts, who said access to open land is especially important in a densely populated state such as Connecticut.
"Open spaces are not manicured, engineered lands. They are natural spaces,'' Martin Mador, a volunteer with the Sierra Club of Connecticut, said in written testimony submitted to the Judiciary Committee. "The financial burden on towns to continuously find and remove fallen tree limbs, clumps of wet leaves and piles of acorns would be enormous and would serve no purpose other than fear of liability lawsuits.''
The bill's chief proponent, Rep. David Baram, D-Bloomfield, said the bill won't protect municipalities if they intentionally create a hazard or fail to warn the public if one exists.