Gustin v. Association of Camps Farthest Out

In Gustin v. Association of Camps Farthest Out, et al. (267 AD2d 1001), a 12 year old girl was injured when she fell 25 feet from a ladder attached to a water tower. The tower was located within a large wooded campground. The plaintiff in that action, the girl's father, brought suit against the organizers of the summer camp his daughter had attended and the owners of the camp property, alleging, inter alia, that they had failed to erect a fence or some other barrier around the tower to prevent his 12 year old daughter from climbing upon the attached ladder. The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, determined, however, that Defendant did not have a duty to erect a barricade to prevent access to the ladder and that the girl's actions in ignoring the obvious danger related to climbing the tower were not foreseeable. The Gustin Court, citing several previous cases and quoting from Culkin v. Parks & Recreation Dept. of City of Syracuse (168 AD2d 912, 914, 565 N.Y.S.2d 655), opined: "Even assuming, arguendo, that defendants were negligent, we conclude that the reckless conduct of Laura [the little girl] was the sole proximate cause of her injuries . . . . Laura knew the dangers inherent in climbing the tower and ignored those dangers. Thus, her reckless conduct was an unforeseeable, superseding event sufficient to absolve defendants of liability'." (Gustin v. Association of Camps Farthest Out, et al., 267 AD2d at 1003)