I am at a meeting of the Members Consultative Group of the Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm sponsored by the American Law Institute. The meeting is being held in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas Law School. We are discussing "Duty of Land Possessors."
Last night we had dinner at the Mansion at Judge’s Hill and I had the pleasure of sitting with Victor Schwartz, an editor of the torts case book that most of us used in law school and an active tort reformer. (Indeed, he is General Counsel to the American Tort Reform Association.) We had a wonderful conversation, agreeing on more things than both of us expected and politely disagreeing on other points. Victor has a great sense of humor and a real gift of imitating the voices of many political figures.
This morning we are debating the duty, if any, of landowner’s and possessors to trespassers and the exceptions to the historic general rule of no liability. I am enjoying the debate immensely – a lot of thought has been given to the issue by the drafters and the members who are present are raising some excellent points.