Amendment #726 to H4700

Limitation of Liability for Property Owners of Quarries

Mr. Murray of Milford moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:

SECTION XXXX. Chapter 231 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 85BB, as inserted by section 90 of chapter 253 of the acts of 2020, the following section:

Section 85CC. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

“Owner of land”, a person holding an interest in land, operating a building located on land or leasing land from the land’s owner.

“Quarry”, an excavation or pit open to the air, where stone or minerals are, or have been, extracted from the earth for commercial purposes and which poses an inherent risk of serious bodily injury or death.

(b) In any action for damages in which a party has proven a claim based upon injury to person or property, in which such injury would not have occurred but for the existence of a quarry on the property on which the injury occurred, an owner of land on which said quarry is located shall not be liable in damages for such injury in excess of $100,000. This section shall not apply if the owner of land acts in a way that: (1) creates a foreseeable risk of serious bodily injury that is not otherwise inherent in the existence of a quarry on said property, and (2) substantially causes the injury.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #726 to H4700

Limitation of Liability for Property Owners of Quarries