Those immediately railing against mtb-ears for even considering legal action probably aren’t considering that we might be talking about someone facing life as a paraplegic because of another person or company’s actions or inactions.
Being found to be negligent has a pretty high bar, if my law lectures from many years ago have been remembered correctly:
1. Does the other person owe you a duty of care?
2. Has that duty of care been breached?
3. Has there been actual damage?
The high bar comes from number 2. In the example a previous forum member has given, it’s possibly not enough simply for the water barrier to be dangerous in itself and positioned in a position that makes it difficult to miss, but needs:
i. Riders to have hit it in the past and fallen
ii. The problem to have been reported
iii. Nothing to have been done
Imagine you hit that barrier, fell, and hurt yourself so badly you couldn’t continue to support yourself. Then imagine you find out that a number of people had done the same in the past, reported it, but the landowner had done nothing. Can you really say you wouldn’t sue?
Obviously this example is miles and miles from a rider going too fast into a corner, loses it, and heads off the trail and hits a tree, or countless other examples that might happen if you chose to ride your bike off road. In most of those situations the duty of care will not have been broken and any solicitor worth their salt will tell you that. Even the ‘no win, no fee’ companies ought not to be pursuing frivolous claims as their time is better spent on cases they can actually win.
So, in reply to the OP, I’m pleased to say I’ve never found myself in a position where I’ve considered it, but I wouldn’t ever rule it out.