Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! Owner and HOA Liability for Wild Animal Attacks

In Florida, as more land is developed, wild animals like black bears are coming into residential areas in search of food. This has led to an increase in conflicts between humans and bears, with some people being injured and property being damaged. This article looks at what landowners and homeowner associations need to do to prevent liability for wild animal attacks on their property. Basically, landowners have a duty to keep their property safe for visitors. If there are wild animals around, like bears, and the landowner knows about it but doesn’t do anything to keep people safe, they could be held responsible if someone gets hurt. This is similar to a landlord’s duty to protect tenants from crime. Homeowners’ associations also have a duty to keep their neighborhoods safe from wild animals, like bears, and could be held responsible if they don’t take reasonable steps to prevent attacks. In a Georgia case, an HOA was not found responsible for a person’s death after being attacked by an alligator because the victim knew about the danger and the HOA had warnings about alligators in the area. This means that if an HOA doesn’t have policies to protect people from bears and doesn’t follow them, they could be found responsible if someone is attacked by a bear. It’s important for HOAs to have and enforce policies to keep people safe from wild animals. An example of this is a case where a person got a settlement after being attacked by an alligator because the property owners didn’t warn people about the danger. If your homeowners association doesn’t have enough insurance to cover a bear attack, they may have to charge homeowners extra money to cover the costs. To prevent bear encounters, communities should follow bear-wise principles and enforce rules to keep bears away. Developers can include these rules in community restrictions, and builders can add them to home sales contracts. Existing homeowners’ associations should check if they have the authority to enforce bear-wise requirements and act accordingly. If a community is in an area where bears might wander in, they should tell people who live there about it and put up signs to warn visitors. They should also educate residents about what to do if they see a bear, like reporting it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and being careful when walking around at night. This can help keep people safe and reduce the community’s liability if anything happens. Don’t feed wild animals or leave food out for them. Clean up after barbecues and don’t leave food waste or pet food outside. Pick fruits and nuts when they’re ripe and don’t let them rot on the ground. Also, don’t keep birdfeeders out at night and be careful with composting. And don’t keep animals outside in cages. These rules are important to keep bears away from our community. Keep garage doors closed to prevent bears from getting in. Don’t leave any food or scented items in your car, as bears may break in looking for food. Use bear-resistant trash cans to dispose of food waste, even though they may be expensive. Trash should only be put out for pick-up on the morning of collection, not the night before, to avoid attracting bears. To keep bears away from your community, follow these precautions and rules from your homeowners’ association. By doing this, you can enjoy Florida’s natural surroundings without putting yourself at risk of bear encounters. Plus, it’ll help minimize any legal trouble for the homeowners’ association if there is an incident with a bear. And if you want help with these precautions, you can get funding from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission through their BearWise Cost Share Funding Opportunity. Check out these websites for information about living with Florida black bears: http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/bear/living/ and http://www.bearwise.com.
Also, read about an incident where a bear dragged a woman from her garage in Florida: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/13/us/florida-bear-attack/index.html.
One lawyer, Gary M. Kaleita, is involved in bear management and is part of a bear-wise community. Another lawyer, Peter Simmons, has moved to San Francisco. This information is provided by the Animal Law Section.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/lions-tigers-and-bears-oh-my-owner-and-hoa-liability-for-wild-animal-attacks/