Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT November 25,2013 The Honorable Ryan Guillen Opinion No. GA-l 027 Chair, Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism Re: Whether landowners may be liable for Texas House ofRepresentatives the actions of law enforcement officers that Post Office Box 2910 occur on the landowners' property or for Austin, Texas 78768-2910 livestock that escape due to actions over which the landowners have no control (RQ-1127-GA) Dear Representative Guillen: You ask whether existing law protects landowners, lessees and occupants of agricultural land from liability in different circumstances. 1 Specifically, you ask about liability in the context of human smuggling and law enforcement actions surrounding those activities. Request Letter at 1. You also ask about liability for the escape of livestock due to "external actions over which the [landowners, lessees, and occupants] have no control, such as trespassing, firefighting activities, game warden activities, poaching and vandalism." !d. at 1. The question of liability in particular circumstances involves issues for a court to determine and is thus outside the purview of an attorney general opinion. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. GA-0430 (2006) at 4 (declining to opine about potential liability "[b]ecause the merits of any particular lawsuit would be determined by the specific facts involved and because this office does not resolve fact questions"). We can generally advise you that under a set of facts in which there is no fault attributable to an owner, lessee, or occupant of land, a court is unlikely to impose liability on the owner, lessee, or occupant. Cf Goode v. Bauer, 109 S.W.3d 788, 792 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2003, pet. denied) ("liability for a violation of the stock laws has always required more than the presence of the defendant's animals in a forbidden place"). As a result, we are unable to answer your questions as a matter of law. 1 See Letter from Honorable Ryan Guillen, Chair, Comm. on Culture, Rec. & Tourism, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Tex. Att'y Gen. at 1 (May 17, 2013), http://www.texasattomeygeneral.gov/opin ("Request Letter"). The Honorable Ryan Guillen - Page 2 (GA-1027) SUMMARY Whether any particular set of circumstances will result in liability is a fact question beyond the purview of an attorney general opinion. Attorney General of Texas DANIEL T. HODGE First Assistant Attorney General JAMES D. BLACKLOCK Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel VIRGINIA K. HOELSCHER Chair, Opinion Committee Charlotte M. Harper Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee