“During the fiscal year ending in June 2009, there were 131 emergency rescues in New Hampshire at a total cost of about $175,000. Traditionally, in New Hampshire and elsewhere in the United States, the cost of these rescues would be borne by the government. The reasoning behind not charging individuals for rescue services was based on common-law principles such as the free-public-services doctrine, as well as general public policy. Recently, however, states have been trending toward enacting legislation requiring reimbursement for the cost of being rescued. Most of these statutes target hikers, allowing the state to recover from the rescuee, or the rescuee’s guardian or estate. As of March 2012, eight states have enacted such laws …” (more)
Jonathan R DeBlois, ‘Restitutionary Recovery: The Appropriate Standard of Care for Emergency Rescue Reimbursement by Hikers’. SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW, Vol 46 111 (2013).
First posted 2013-03-18 08:33:37
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