Bill > HB4582

This bill, titled the "premises liability act," establishes rules for when property owners, referred to as "possessors," can be held responsible for injuries to "invitees," which are individuals invited onto the property for a commercial benefit or business purpose. Generally, a possessor must use ordinary care to protect invitees from unreasonable risks of harm from conditions on the property if the possessor knows or should know about the condition and realizes it poses an unreasonable risk. However, the bill introduces a significant defense: a possessor owes no duty to protect an invitee from risks posed by an "open and obvious" condition, meaning a condition that the invitee knew about or would have discovered through casual inspection. Exceptions to this open and obvious defense exist if special features of the condition make it unavoidable or create an unreasonably high risk of severe harm. The bill also clarifies that it does not affect other available defenses, create duties for owners who are not possessors, or alter existing laws regarding comparative fault, which apportions blame in injury cases. Crucially, this act prevents courts from adopting a broader "reasonable care standard" for all circumstances in premises liability cases, instead maintaining a system where liability is based on the legal status of the person injured on the property.