Katko v. Briney

Katko v. Briney
CourtIowa Supreme Court
Full case name Marvin Katko v. Edward Briney and Bertha L. Briney
DecidedFebruary 9, 1971 (1971-02-09)
Citation183 N.W.2d 657
Case history
Appealed fromIowa District Court for the 8th Judicial District
Court membership
Judges sittingChief Justice
C. Edwin Moore
Associate Justices
Robert L. Larson · William Corwin Stuart · M. L. Mason · Francis H. Becker · Warren J. Rees · Maurice E. Rawlings · Clay LeGrand · Harvey Uhlenhopp
Case opinions
Landowner had a duty not to set potentially deadly traps for trespassers.
Decision byMoore
DissentLarson

Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1971), is a court case decided by the Iowa Supreme Court, in which homeowners Edward and Bertha Briney were held liable for battery for injuries caused to trespasser Marvin Katko, who set off a spring gun set as a mantrap in an uninhabited house on their property.[1] The case thereafter received wide attention in legal circles, becoming a staple of tort law casebooks and law school courses.[2][3]

  1. ^ Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1971).
  2. ^ Andrew J. McClurg, "Poetry in Commotion: Katko v . Briney and the Bards of First-Year Torts", The Law Teacher (Fall 1996), p. 1.
  3. ^ Walter E. Volkomer, An Introduction to Law: A Casebook (1994), p. 7.