Statutes of Newfoundland and Labrador 2010 Chapter P-3.1

Important Information
(Includes details about the availability of printed and electronic versions of the Statutes.)

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Pedestrian Trails Liability Protection Act.

Definitions

2. In this Act

(a) "minister" means the minister appointed under the Executive Council Act to administer this Act;

(b) "owner or occupier" includes the holder of an easement or the owner of a right of way or licence, including a Crown easement or Crown licence issued under the Lands Act, over land which may form a part of the trail, but does not include an association, group or other body that built or that maintains the trail; and

Designation of a trail

3. A trail that meets the prescribed criteria may be designated by regulation to be a trail to which this Act applies.

User liability

4. (1) A person using a trail voluntarily assumes all risk, as against the Crown, that may be encountered on the trail when using the trail, whether the person is on the trail or not.

(2) An owner or occupier of land that forms a part of a trail, including the Crown, together with his or her agents, employees and servants, does not owe a duty of care to a person who is using the trail or that persons property whether that person is on the trail or not.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the owner or occupier of land that forms a part of a trail owes a duty of care to persons using the trail not to create a danger with the deliberate intent of doing harm or damage to the person or the person's property.

Regulations

5. The minister may make regulations

(a) designating a trail;

(b) establishing criteria and prescribing those subject areas with respect to which the minister may set standards that must be complied with for a trail to be designated under this Act;

(c) describing a trail using the licence to occupy number assigned under the Lands Act by the minister appointed under the Executive Council Act to administer that Act, or by some other method;

(d) defining a word that is not already defined in this Act for the purpose of this Act; and

(e) generally, to give effect to the purpose of this Act.