Ravenscroft v. Washington Water Power Co.

In this case we are asked to decide whether one of several submerged, rooted tree stumps near the middle of a water channel in a dam reservoir is an “artificial” and “latent” condition under the exception to the recreational use statute, and whether the public duty doctrine bars a claim for injuries allegedly caused by a county’s failure to warn boaters of submerged tree stumps. We hold that the injury-causing condition in this case was one of several submerged tree stumps which the defendant left near the middle of a water channel whose water level *915is controlled by defendant; that this…