MISSISSIPPI – Premises Liability – Criminal Acts of Third Parties

Few and far between should be the Mississippi premises-liability cases based on the criminal acts of a third-party.

Based on a recent statute, premises-liability actions against owners and occupiers of real property should fail if caused by the willful, wanton or intentional tortious conduct of a third party unless the invitee can prove: (a) the conduct occurred on the property; (b) the owner or occupier actively and affirmatively, with a degree of conscious decision-making, impelled the conduct of said third party; and (c) proximate causation.

Effective:  July 1, 2019

Miss. Code Ann. § –(-) (-)–

§ –(-) (-)–. Landowners Protection Act

(1)       This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Landowners Protection Act.”

(2)       For any premises-liability actions brought under the laws of the State of Mississippi, no person who owns, leases, operates, maintains, or manages commercial or other real property in the State of Mississippi and no director, officer, employee, agent or independent contractor acting on behalf of any such person shall be civilly liable to any invitee who is injured on said property as the result of the willful, wanton or intentional tortious conduct of any third party who is not a director, officer, employee or agent of the person who owns, leases, operates, maintains or manages such commercial or other real property unless the injured party can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that:

(a)       The conduct of said third party occurred on the property;

(b)       The conduct of the person who owns, leases, operates, maintains or manages the property actively and affirmatively, with a degree of conscious decision-making, impelled the conduct of said third party; and

(c)       The third party’s conduct proximately caused the economic and noneconomic damages suffered by the injured party.

(3)       For any civil actions brought under the laws of the State of Mississippi for the purpose of alleging liability for the injury of an invitee as described in subsection (2) of this section, an atmosphere of violence shall only be established by similar violent conduct:

(a)       Which occurred three (3) or more times within three (3) years before the third party act at issue;

(b)       Which took place only on the commercial or other real property where the acts of the third party occurred; and

(c)       Which are based upon three (3) or more separate events or incidents that resulted in three (3) or more arraignments of an individual for a felony involving an act of violence.

(4)       For any civil actions brought under the laws of the State of Mississippi for the purpose of alleging liability for the injury of an invitee as described in subsection (2) of this section, civil liability may not be based on the prior violent nature of the third party whose acts or omissions proximately caused the claimed injury or damage unless the person who owns, leases, operates, maintains or manages the property has actual, not constructive, knowledge of the prior violent nature of said third party.

(5)       If any provision of this section or its application to any person or circumstance is held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the remainder of this section or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

(6)       Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter the provisions of Section 97-3-15.

(7)       For purposes of this section, “premises-liability action” means a civil action based upon the duty owed to someone injured on a landowner’s premises as a result of conditions or activities on the land.

Laws 2019, S.B. No. 2901, § 1, eff. July 1, 2019, Miss. Code Ann. § –(-) (-)–, MS ST § –(-) (-)–.

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