Minnesota Session Laws - 1991, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1991 

                        CHAPTER 313-S.F.No. 899 
           An act relating to torts; providing immunity against 
          tort liability for claims arising out of the use of 
          highways that provide access to timber; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1990, sections 3.736, subdivision 
          3; and 466.03, by adding a subdivision. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 3.736, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  [EXCLUSIONS.] Without intent to preclude the 
courts from finding additional cases where the state and its 
employees should not, in equity and good conscience, pay 
compensation for personal injuries or property losses, the 
legislature declares that the state and its employees are not 
liable for the following losses: 
     (a) a loss caused by an act or omission of a state employee 
exercising due care in the execution of a valid or invalid 
statute or rule; 
      (b) a loss caused by the performance or failure to perform 
a discretionary duty, whether or not the discretion is abused; 
      (c) a loss in connection with the assessment and collection 
of taxes; 
      (d) a loss caused by snow or ice conditions on a highway or 
public sidewalk that does not abut a publicly owned building or 
a publicly owned parking lot, except when the condition is 
affirmatively caused by the negligent acts of a state employee; 
      (e) a loss caused by wild animals in their natural state, 
except as provided in section 3.7371; 
      (f) a loss other than injury to or loss of property or 
personal injury or death; 
      (g) a loss caused by the condition of unimproved real 
property owned by the state, which means land that the state has 
not improved, state land that contains idled or abandoned mine 
pits or shafts, and appurtenances, fixtures, and attachments to 
land that the state has neither affixed nor improved; 
     (h) a loss incurred by a user arising from the 
construction, operation, or maintenance of the outdoor 
recreation system, as defined in section 86A.04, or for a loss 
arising from the construction, operation, maintenance, or 
administration of grants-in-aid trails as defined in section 
85.018, or for a loss arising from the construction, operation, 
or maintenance of a water access site created by the iron range 
resources and rehabilitation board, except that the state is 
liable for conduct that would entitle a trespasser to damages 
against a private person.  For the purposes of this clause, a 
water access site, as defined in section 86A.04 or created by 
the iron range resources and rehabilitation board, that provides 
access to an idled, water filled mine pit, also includes the 
entire water filled area of the pit and, further, includes 
losses caused by the caving or slumping of the mine pit walls; 
    (i) a loss of benefits or compensation due under a program 
of public assistance or public welfare, except if state 
compensation for loss is expressly required by federal law in 
order for the state to receive federal grants-in-aid; 
    (j) a loss based on the failure of a person to meet the 
standards needed for a license, permit, or other authorization 
issued by the state or its agents; 
    (k) a loss based on the usual care and treatment, or lack 
of care and treatment, of a person at a state hospital or state 
corrections facility where reasonable use of available 
appropriations has been made to provide care; 
    (l) loss, damage, or destruction of property of a patient 
or inmate of a state institution; 
    (m) a loss for which recovery is prohibited by section 
169.121, subdivision 9; 
    (n) a loss caused by an aeration, bubbler, water 
circulation, or similar system used to increase dissolved oxygen 
or maintain open water on the ice of public waters, that is 
operated under a permit issued by the commissioner of natural 
resources; and 
    (o) a loss incurred by a visitor to the Minnesota 
zoological garden, except that the state is liable for conduct 
that would entitle a trespasser to damages against a private 
person; and 
    (p) a loss arising out of a person's use of a logging road 
on public land that is maintained exclusively to provide access 
to timber on that land by harvesters of the timber, and is not 
signed or otherwise held out to the public as a public highway. 
    The state will not pay punitive damages. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 466.03, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 17.  [LOGGING ROADS.] Any claim arising out of a 
person's use of a logging road on public land that is maintained 
exclusively to provide access to timber on the land by 
harvesters of the timber, and is not signed or otherwise held 
out to the public as a public highway. 
    Presented to the governor May 30, 1991 
    Signed by the governor June 3, 1991, 4:14 p.m.