Al6—Lancaster Fannins, Thursday, December 24,1981
A question of legality
There are few professions that
require more skills than fanning.
Successful farmers must not
only be good at growing crops and
livestock, but they must also be
mechanics, carpenters,
bookkeepers, tax experts, com
modity specialists, personnel
managers, real estate appraisers,
and financial consultants.
To that long list might also be
added legal experts because in
creasingly farmers are getting
involved in problems that require
at least some legal knowledge on
their part. And it’s a specialized
area-one that the average cor
poration or trial lawyer may not be
familiar with.
Nationally, there is a growing
number of lawyers who deal with
farm-related problems and cer
tainly there is a growing market
for their services. It seems
everytime you read a farm
magazine or an agricultural
newspaper, there's a story about a
farmer somewhere involved in a
peculiar legal battle. Usually it
centers around the problem of
liability, or responsibility if you
prefer a simpler term.
In this time of environmental
concern, farmers are being taken
to task for many of the practices
that have been followed in
agricultural areas for generations.
And courts are finding the farmers
liable for misuse of agricultural
chemicals, for odor problems, for
creating hazardous conditions, and
for other sins against society.
In the good old days, a farmer
could till the ground and raise
livestock and be pretty much left
alone by city cousins. But the
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Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
spread of the nonfarm population
into the countryside has created
conflict that has resulted in legal
action.
Now fanners must worry about
their dust, their odors, their fer
tilizers, and the manners of their
livestock. They must be concerned
about the liability created by a
mean bull, a biting dog, a manure
lagoon, and the quality of the air
and water surrounding that
agricultural enterprise.
With today’s sophisticated
detection equipment, un
sympathetic neighbors are ac
cusing and winning battles over
ground water pollution, fertilizer
runoff, chemical drift, and air
quality.
There’s no question that farmers
do create liablous situations with
the practices of modern
agriculture. The key word in all
this seems to be negligence. In
legal talk, that’s a term that in
dicates failure to observe ordinary
and reasonable care to protect
others from injury.
If the courts find that farmers
have been negligent, then they’re
probably going to have to pay. On
the other hand, if they used
reasonable care, another good
legal term, then even though some
harm may have resulted from an
action, or lack of action, farmers
may not have to pay.
The question in most of these
cases revolves around two terms—
negligence and reasonable care.
Would a reasonable, prudent
person foresee a likelihood of
danger to others in this particular
circumstance?
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Over the river and through the woods may snow and the undeveloped land are a perfect
lead to Grandmother's house, but it also leads compliment in beauty,
to a world/)! purity and sanctity. The unmarred
May the magic of
Christinas fill your souls *
with wonderful things! Our
thanics to one and all!
Scenes of the season
/-> *' t
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P.O. BOX 219, 539 FALLING SPRING ROAD
CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17201