Florida Senate - 2023                                    SB 1054
       
       
        
       By Senator Calatayud
       
       
       
       
       
       38-00389-23                                           20231054__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to private campground liability;
    3         creating s. 513.201, F.S.; defining terms; providing
    4         civil liability protection for private campground
    5         owners or specified employees of private campgrounds
    6         for injury or death or property damage that results
    7         from the inherent risk of camping; providing
    8         exceptions; requiring private campground operators to
    9         post and maintain signs and to enter into written
   10         contracts that meet certain requirements and warn of
   11         the inherent risk of camping; requiring a private
   12         campground operator, owner, or employee to comply with
   13         certain requirements in order to invoke immunity;
   14         providing for the award of reasonable costs and
   15         attorney fees under certain circumstances; providing
   16         construction; providing an effective date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Section 513.201, Florida Statutes, is created to
   21  read:
   22         513.201 Immunity from liability for inherent risk of
   23  camping at private campgrounds; posting and notification
   24  required.—
   25         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   26         (a)“Camping” means all aspects of visiting, staying at,
   27  using, and departing from a private campground, regardless of
   28  the type of lodging a guest visited, stayed at, used, or
   29  departed from at the private campground.
   30         (b)“Inherent risk of camping” means the danger or
   31  condition assumed as a part of camping, including the dangers
   32  posed by any of the following, at a private campground:
   33         1.Features of the natural world, such as trees, naturally
   34  occurring infectious agents, tree stumps, roots, brush, rocks,
   35  mud, sand, standing and moving water, and soil.
   36         2.Uneven or unpredictable terrain.
   37         3.Natural bodies of water and facilities allowing the use
   38  of natural bodies of water, including piers, docks, and swimming
   39  and aquatic sports or recreation facilities or areas.
   40         4.Another camper or visitor at the private campground
   41  acting in a negligent manner in which the private campground
   42  owner or employees of the private campground are not involved.
   43         5.A lack of lighting, including lighting at a campsite.
   44         6.Campfires contained in or outside of a fire pit or
   45  enclosure provided by the private campground; bonfires or grass
   46  or brush fires; wildfires; and forest fires.
   47         7.Weather.
   48         8.Insects, birds, and other wildlife.
   49         9.Violations or disregard by a camper or visitor of any
   50  posted or established safety rules or posted signs communicating
   51  warnings.
   52         10.Actions by a camper or visitor which exceed the
   53  physical limitations or abilities of the camper or visitor.
   54         11.Animals of other campers or visitors which cause
   55  injury, unless the private campground has accepted
   56  responsibility for care of the animal.
   57         12.Fireworks set off by a camper, visitor, or offsite
   58  entity not authorized by the private campground operator.
   59         13.Any person coming onto a campsite who is not reported
   60  to the private campground operator or an employee of the private
   61  campground.
   62         (c)“Private campground” means a facility that provides
   63  sites on which recreational vehicles, camping units, and tents
   64  may be placed for transient occupancy and that is owned and
   65  operated, directly or indirectly, by a private property owner.
   66  The term also includes a recreational vehicle park’s lodging
   67  park or recreational camp, as those terms are defined in s.
   68  513.01.
   69         (d)“Private campground operator” means the owner,
   70  operator, keeper, lessor, proprietor, manager, assistant
   71  manager, desk clerk, agent, or employee of a private campground,
   72  including a lodging park, a recreational vehicle park, or a
   73  recreational camp who is designated as the individual solely
   74  responsible for the daily operation of the park or camp pursuant
   75  to this chapter.
   76         (2)Except as provided in subsection (3), a private
   77  campground owner, a private campground operator, and any
   78  employee or officer of a private campground, private campground
   79  owner, or private campground operator are immune from civil
   80  liability for acts or omissions related to camping at a private
   81  campground if, as a result of an inherent risk of camping, a
   82  person or animal is injured or killed or property is damaged at
   83  the private campground.
   84         (3)The immunity provisions of subsection (2) do not apply
   85  if the person seeking immunity does any of the following:
   86         (a)Intentionally causes the injury, death, or property
   87  damage.
   88         (b)Commits an act or omission that constitutes willful or
   89  wanton disregard for the safety of the camper visitor, and such
   90  act or omission proximately causes injury, damage, or death to
   91  the camper or visitor.
   92         (c)Fails to conspicuously post warning signs of a
   93  dangerous, inconspicuous condition known to him or her on the
   94  property that he or she owns, leases, rents, or is otherwise in
   95  lawful control or possession of, if he or she is aware of the
   96  condition due to a prior injury involving the same location or
   97  the same mechanism of injury.
   98         (4)Each private campground operator shall provide notice
   99  to campers of the inherent risk of camping.
  100         (a)The private campground operator shall post a sign
  101  warning of the inherent risk of camping in a clearly visible
  102  location at the entrance to the private campground. The notice
  103  posted on the sign must consist of black letters that are at
  104  least 1 inch in height each, with sufficient color contrast to
  105  be clearly visible.
  106         (b)Each written contract entered into by a private
  107  campground or private campground operator with a transient guest
  108  must contain in clearly readable print the notice of inherent
  109  risk.
  110         (c)The sign and contract must contain the following notice
  111  of the inherent risk of camping:
  112  
  113                               WARNING                             
  114  
  115         Under Florida law, a private campground owner,
  116         operator, or employee is not liable for the injury or
  117         death of a participant, or damage or loss to property,
  118         in camping at a private campground if such injury,
  119         death, damage, or loss results from the inherent risk
  120         of camping. The inherent risk of camping includes, but
  121         is not limited to, risks of injury inherent to land,
  122         equipment, weather, animals, and actions by other
  123         campers, as well as the potential for you to act in a
  124         negligent manner that may contribute to your own
  125         injury, death, damage, or loss. You are assuming the
  126         risk of participating in camping.
  127  
  128         (d)A private campground operator or owner or an employee
  129  of a private campground, or the owner of the underlying land on
  130  which the camping occurs, may not invoke the privilege of
  131  immunity provided by this section if he or she fails to comply
  132  with this subsection.
  133         (5)In a civil action filed pursuant to this section
  134  against a private campground or a private campground operator
  135  for loss, injury, or damage resulting from an activity covered
  136  under the inherent risk of camping, the court must assess and
  137  award the reasonable costs of defense, including reasonable
  138  attorney fees, against the plaintiff or responsible party if the
  139  court determines that the immunity from liability under this
  140  section applies to the private campground or private campground
  141  operator.
  142         (6)This section does not limit the immunity created by
  143  other sections of Florida law, by contractual waiver, or by
  144  common-law assumptions of risk.
  145         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.