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The Lawsuit
Butler brought a wrongful-death action against the Newark Country Club, claiming the facility was negligent when it failed to childproof the pond after the expansion project in 2000. Butler admitted that Jeremiah had been trespassing, but she argued that children are owed a higher standard of care by landowners even if they are trespassers. She also contended that the club was liable because the pond was an "attractive nuisance" -- a legal way of saying the pond was both artificial and alluring to children who might not realize it was dangerous.Butler maintained that Jeremiah's injuries were caused by his attraction to the golf course pond. Unlike a natural pond, this one had water pumping near the spillway pipe, and the flow had thinned the ice. Jeremiah could not have understood that danger, yet the country club had to know that he and other children might find the pond irresistible.
Newark Country Club employee David Cox even testified that he'd told various children to leave many times. The split-rail fence and signs were not enough to keep the kids away. After the accident, Tiara and Evon said they didn't know what trespasser meant. The club, Butler argued, had a duty to safeguard the pond it had created from children too young to recognize its perils.
But the Newark Country Club argued that it didn't have to protect children from all types of danger. It was responsible only for artificial conditions, like a large unguarded piece of machinery that young children wouldn't realize might harm them. The club contended that, though it had created the pond, the children were attracted to its natural properties, like the ice they skated on -- and that the children were old enough to realize the dangers of ice-covered ponds. The club did put up No Skating signs, and the kids knew what that meant. Besides, Jeremiah's mother had even warned the children to stay away. The country club called Jeremiah's death a tragic accident but denied any responsibility for it.
Should the Newark Country Club be held liable for Jeremiah's death?
You Be the Judge.
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