Aaron Sanderford
LINCOLN — Nebraska is not responsible for a riding lawnmower sliding into a visitor who was sitting at a picnic table at Sandy Channel State Recreational Area.
Why not? It was wet in August 2017, when a state park employee was cutting grass and the mower slid down a nearby hill and struck the man. Nebraska law protects the state from legal liability in many accidents when weather plays a role.
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Aaron G. Brown of Holdrege could not sue the state despite injuries to his back and nerves that his lawsuit described as serious and permanent.
Weather contributed
The court found a “causal relationship” between the wet grass on the hill overlooking the picnic table where Brown sat. The park employee happened to be mowing when Brown had come to fish.
Neither side disputed the worker’s view that the “lawnmower slid down the slope because of the wet conditions and that once the mower started sliding, there was nothing he could do,” it said.
Brown himself testified that the mower collided with the picnic table he was seated at because of the wet conditions and not the worker’s actions.
The state argued that it had the protection of two exceptions from liability: one for weather and another protecting the state from injuries occurring during recreational activities.
Is a mower a motor vehicle?
Among several arguments, Brown’s lawyer contended that the worker cutting grass so soon after a rain might have forfeited the law’s protections from liability. The court disagreed.
The lawyer also wrangled with the Attorney General’s Office over whether a riding lawnmower meets the qualifications of a motor vehicle under a carve-out letting people sue the state.
The court ruled that state law on “sovereign immunity” required the state to narrowly define motor vehicles in a way that leaves out mowers. The ruling did not address the recreational exception.
“Because the evidence established a causal relationship between the wet grass in the recreation area and Brown’s injuries, Brown’s claim arises out of a temporary condition caused by nature and due to weather,” the court wrote.
Brown’s lawyer had no immediate comment Friday. Brown has 10 days from the decision to request a reconsideration. The Attorney General’s Office also declined comment.