TITLE 51 TORTS

Section 11. Defenses to Tort Actions, 51-11-1 through 51-11-21.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

51-11-10. Property owner selling timber not liable for trespass or conversion of property caused by third party; establishment of property boundaries.

There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a property owner selling timber from his or her land and acting in good faith shall not be liable to adjoining landowners for any trespass or conversion of property caused by a third party timber harvester who is not subject to the control and direction of the property owner selling timber if, prior to the harvesting of such timber:

1. A land surveyor possessing a certificate of registration issued by the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors has surveyed the property from which the timber is to be harvested and plainly established and clearly marked the metes and bounds of the property such that a reasonable person would know or should have known of the existence of such markings when harvesting the timber and has provided a copy of that survey to the third-party timber harvester;
2. The boundaries of the property from which timber is sold have been completely and accurately indicated using physical markers that are clearly visible such that a reasonable person would know or should have known of the existence of such physical markers; or
3. The property owner has obtained a document indicating where the boundaries are and signed by adjoining landowners indicating that they agree on the location of such boundaries and has provided a copy of such document to the third-party timber harvester; provided, however, that such document shall only create a presumption in favor of the property owner with regard to those landowners who have signed such document.

(Code 1981, §51-11-10, enacted by Ga. L. 2014, p. 695, § 6/HB 790.)