New York law provides that owners and occupiers of land owe a duty to each entrant to exercise ordinary, reasonable care under the circumstances. Basso v. Miller, 40 N.Y.2d 233, 352 N.E.2d 868 (1976). This rule means that a property owner must take reasonable steps to ensure that the environment is safe to parties that may foreseeably come on to the premises. Unfortunately, there is no precise way to measure what is “reasonable,” though the law defines the term as what a person of ordinary intelligence and judgment would do under identical circumstances. Whether a landowner’s actions constitute “reasonable care under the circumstances” is a heavily litigated issue and this standard is susceptible to varying interpretations by a jury.
Those injured on another’s property due to the property owner’s negligence may be awarded monetary damages for their injuries.
