Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Kentucky

Re: ATV usage on private posted land

The thing to do would be to incorporate a non-profit group and then lease the right to ride from the owner. Of course, the group would have to agree to provide some sort of protection to the owner for this liability. Landowners are not automatically liable for injuries suffered to those on their land. The general rule in Kentucky is that the landowner owes no responsibility to a trespasser except not to intentionally injure him, i.e. he can't shoot the trespasser. The only duty that he would owe to an invitee or guest would be to protect the guest from known dangers that would not be obvious to the guest, etc. For example, if you were having a backyard cookout, you would take steps to keep your guests from stepping on an abandoned well and warn them about it, etc. You would also not expose them to danger without their knowing it - put the mean dogs up. What insurance is valuable for is to pay the legal costs in the event of litigation. Nothing keeps a person from being sued however it is a somewhat dubious "victory" to win a lawsuit and then be faced with huge legal bills and litigation expenses. You should also have each person riding under the lease with the group execute a waiver, protecting the landowner and the group from liability. Good local counsel should be able to provide this at a reasonable cost. The cost of protecting yourself will be a lot cheaper than the investment that you have in most of your equipment and should be considered as essential as helmet and pads etc.