My parents bought a lakeside property last summer, and it came with a dock. The dock stays in the public lake during the summer a few meters off the beach and is their property. Everyone in the town who has property on the lake has their own dock in the lake.

Over the last week, there’s been a bunch of kids who keep moving my parents dock further into the lake than where it was anchored and then using it without permission. Every time, my parents have told the kids to get off, the last time my parents told them they would be calling the cops if they didn’t leave it be.

The kids have left every time, but the last time they brought the anchors up, and left it on the dock. This ultimately made it so the dock could float away, thankfully my dad got home just before if fully floated away.

My questions are; if the kids get hurt using the dock, are my parents liable in anyway? And, if the dock does float away, if there any legal action my parents can take against the kids if they were the cause of it?