When your property borders a golf course, you're bound to see IFO's land in your yard: identified flying objects:
Joyce Amaral knew before buying her home that it was near the ninth hole of a golf course.
But she says wasn’t prepared for the number of errant golf balls that came flying into her yard - more than 1,800 in five years - or the number of golfers who came along to retrieve them.
So she and a neighbor sued the owners of Rehoboth’s Middlebrook Country Club. Yesterday, the state Appeals Court found the wayward balls constitute a "continuing trespass" and ordered a lower court to find a solution.
Economists talk about the Coase theorem, a theory that suggests, among other things, that private negotiations can solve externality problems - situations when a third party is affected by a transaction (such as when a golfer hits a ball into your yard). The golf course owners tried to be good neighbors.
Michael F. Drywa Jr., who represented golf course owners Peter and Lucretia Cuppels, said they paid for numerous alterations to the golf course to try and alleviate the problem, including relocating the tee, installing signs instructing golfers to "aim left," and planting trees alongside the fairway.
According to the Coase theorem, the ability of negotiations to correct externalities depends on property rights being well-defined and transactions costs being low - we both know what each other owns, we can negotiate freely, and we know the source of the problem. Both parties recognize that Ms. Amaral owns the right to be in her backyard without having to worry about being bonked on the head with a golfball. But the owners of the golf course have a right to use their property as they intend.
Things become even more complicated when there is a third group involved - in this case, the golfers. The golfers have purchased the right to use the golf course and, after all, it is the errant shots of some of these golfers that is the primary issue here. The golfers aren't trying to hit Ms. Amaral's property. They just made bad shots. How can the owners eliminate the bad shots if they don't know when they are going to come and who is going to hit them? Moreover, Ms. Amaral knew there were risks. But how much risk should she bear?
I'm a very consistent golfer. My shots rarely go in the desired direction. I get really nervous when I golf at a course near a busy street or that is surrounded by houses.