Court Opinion

ID: 9669704
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:06:54.583526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:59.855244
License: Public Domain

White, J.,
dissenting.
I dissent. We have, in three prior cases, held that the Recreation Liability Act is applicable to public entities. Bailey v. City of North Platte, 218 Neb. 810, 359 N.W.2d 766 (1984); Garreans v. City of Omaha, 216 Neb. 487, 345 N.W.2d 309 (1984); Watson v. City of Omaha, 209 Neb. 835, 312 N.W.2d 256 (1981). While the act provides that a landowner shall not be held liable for ordinary negligence, it may be held liable for malicious or willful actions which result in injury. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 37-1005 (Reissue 1984). Assuming the majority is *361correct that the entire site was dedicated to public recreation purposes, the cause should be remanded for further action by the trial court.
The appellee alleged in his amended petition that OPPD’s failure to warn of the dangerous condition of the lot donated for recreational purposes constituted a willful and malicious act on the part of the appellant. This issue was not addressed by the district court. The testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher reveals that OPPD was notified of the presence of debris and trash on the hill which the neighbor children used for sledding, and the evidence at trial revealed that the object on which the boy injured himself was only partially visible above the snow and weeds. Also, then employees of OPPD testified that each time they were on the property, debris was present.
Section 37-1005 provides:
Nothing in sections 37-1001 to 37-1008 limits in any way any liability which otherwise exists (1) for willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity, or (2) for injury suffered in any case where the owner of land charges the person or persons who enter or go on the land. Rental paid by a group, organization, corporation, the state or federal government shall not be deemed a charge made by the owner of the land.
To constitute willful misconduct there must be actual knowledge that a danger exists and a conscious failure to act to prevent harm which is likely to result. Garreans, supra.
Evidence was introduced tending to prove OPPD has had knowledge that a dangerous condition existed and that the injury was reasonably foreseeable, especially in view of the evidence in the record of a similar injury to another neighbor boy sledding on the hill. I would remand for rehearing on the issue of malicious or willful misconduct on the part of OPPD.
Shanahan, J., joins in this dissent.