[hackerspaces] [Eviction] Call for Support for les Hauts Lieux

[Matt Joyce]

I am curious, I know I've been critical of the "squatting" approach before
in the past, and still am.  But this is an honest question, just curious.
At least in the states, when an owner has property that they aren't actively
maintaining they can be liable for injuries that occur on the property.

Example:

   Joey Twotones grand pappi Jimmy Twotones dad leaves him a family summer
house in a coastal town when he dies.  Joey discovers the house is
unsalvageable and has it demolished.  He decides to sell the land but the
market isn't where he wants it to be yet so he fences the property up and
waits for the market to change.

  Two years goes by.  Joey gets a call...  Apparently six months or so ago
neighborhood kids unbeknownst to him had pried up some fencing and had
transformed his vacant lot into a bmx dirt bike track.  One of the
neighborhood kids broke their arm while racing around on it.  Now the
parents are suing him for having an unsafe bike track that their child hurt
themselves on.

End Example.

So say you house a workshop in someone else's squatted property.  Some dude
comes in and say accidently starts a fire while welding, or welds something
he should not have and a noxious gas is released... or something like that.
People are injured.  Can they sue the land owner for not meeting building
codes or meeting safety codes relevant to the activities of the squatting
hackspace they are ignorant of?

I know europeans tend not to be the horrendous liability sue happy land that
the US is, and I love em for it.  But it seems like there would be
situations in which the land owner is responsible for the activities of
others on their unwatched property.  Especially if third parties are harmed
as a result.

-Matt

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 10:23 AM, Yves Quemener <quemener.yves at free.fr>wrote:

> John Duksta wrote:
>
>> If I read this right, it sounds like le localhost/Les Hauts Lieux was
>> squatting in the space. Is that correct or were there arrangements/a lease
>> in place?
>>
>>
> That is correct. The place was unoccupied by their owner who was unaware of
> the squatting. The owner decided to make the police evacuate the place
> shortly after learning about the occupation.
>
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