Andy Woo
*This article reflects the personal views, analyses, or opinions of the author, and not the official position or opinion of the Attorney General or the Office of the Attorney General. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an official opinion of the State of Washington.
On September 1, 2022, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Schwartz v. King County, 200 Wn.2d 231, 516 P.3d 360 (2022), that has significant implications for those who open their property to public outdoor recreation. This case is the latest in a line of recent Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases reflecting a continued tension between the legislative and societal policy underlying Washington’s recreational use immunity statute, RCW 4.24.200-210—which is to encourage landowners or others to make lands and water areas available to the public for recreation—on the one hand, and the modern judicial trend towards abrogating both common law and statutory immunities for negligence liability, on the other. In this most recent effort by the Court to resolve that tension, those who open lands and water areas to public outdoor recreation [hereinafter collectively “landowners and occupiers”] now face added uncertainty as to the scope of recreational use immunity and increased potential liability.
Continue reading “Closely Divided State Supreme Court Redefines “Known Dangerous Artificial Latent Condition” for Purposes of the Recreational Use Immunity Statute”