Trespassing is the legal term for when one person enters onto another person’s land without legal right or permission to be there. The trespassing can be considered a crime, a civil wrong, or both depending on a particular case.
When a person trespasses onto another person’s land and steals some personal property from the owner he can be charged with criminal trespass. When the trespasser breaks something on the homeowner’s property he can be sued under civil tort law.
Trespass can be committed intentionally, recklessly or negligently. If a trespasser doesn’t know that the is deeded land, but with inquiry can find out, the trespass is negligent. Trespass requires some form of physical entry or contact with the plaintiff’s land. That entry could be the defendant going onto the plaintiff’s land, throwing or putting an object on it, causing a third person to enter onto the plaintiff’s land or discharging some substance onto the land. Trespass also takes place when a person fails to leave the owner’s property after permission to enter has been first given but then ended or revoked.
In case property was damaged by someone who committed a trespass the owner can take civil action. The owner can sue the trespasser even though the property was not damaged. In this case, the amount of compensation will be equal to the price that a reasonable person would pay for the right to pass over the land. The defendant can also ask for an injunction to stop the trespass from happening again.
Here are some examples of trespass in California:
A property owner or tenant has a legal right to get compensation for trespass to his land, and recover the following damages:
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