2.1 million quid damages

[airedale]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/5350136.stm

up go our insurance premiums again - ho hum

poor girl and tragic and a long case in time before a settlement but it appears all along that it was a total accident

 

[teapot]

FFS - yes I know poor girl, tragic accident etc but £2.1 million in damages?

Gah - not looking forward to the price hike at my RS next spring

 

[teapot]

Ahh that came across how I didn't want it to -

Just seems an awful lot of money considering it sounds just like one of those freak accidents

 

[Olliedog]

That's so sad

I really feel for that girl and her family, but horses are unpredictable creatures, potentially lethal, and that is the risk we take everytime we are around them.

 

[burtie]

This is totally ridiculous, who is actually paying the damages, the owner of the horse who kicked or the livery yard? She knew there were other horses in the field and presumably knew the risks, why did she not have accident insurance if her family were bothered by this. I just don't get how anyone else could be found liable for this accident? Perhaps before long all yards will insist on personal accident cover for anybody stepping foot on the yard?

 

[MagicMelon]

Id be interested to know who paid too. I dont think the centre or owner of the horse should be paying that's for sure.

Of course, this is a terrible accident and has obviously destroyed the girls life but will she really need all of 2.1 million??

 

[classiclady]

maybe we should all do what the college near me does, anyone taking or fetching a horse out the field wares a hard hat.

 

[samsaccount]

Classic, the college near me also insists that anyone who is not a member of staff on the yard must wear a hard hat regardless of whther you know the horses well or if there is no horses in one of the fields at that particular time (one field joins onto a second one).

I agree that it is very tragic to hear about the young girl but i agree that it was just a freak accident and that people involved with horses know what risks they are taking every day, with their own or other peoples....and in my opinion 2.1 million is very excessive for a accident such as this!!!!

 

[Rambo]

Hmmmm...i'm sorry to go against the grain here...but £2.1 millions is nothing compared to what the young girl would need to live a reasonable and healthy life for the rest of her years. She was 13 yrs old when this accident happenned. Assuming she lives to about 75yrs old this figure represents no more than £35k per year for the rest of her life. It might sound a lot today, but in real terms it will be worth nothing in 20 yrs time.

Yes, we all know the risks involved in handling our own horses...but this was not HER horse...it was another horse that caused the problem.

Trust me, in real terms, this payout will make FA difference to insurance premiums in the future

 

[S_N]

You took the words right out of my mouth Rambo! I hope they are able to invest it well, so that it does eek out for all the care she will need and has already had.......

However, I too would like to know who paid out....

 

[Puppy]

I expect it would have been the riding school whose insurance company has paid out. Note - the <u>insurance company</u>, not the riding schools itself - and its not really that large a figure for an insurance company; however much it may make you and I gasp!

I agree with Rambo and SN, the poor girl has lost the possibility of a normal life - no amount of money is going to bring that back.

Plus - is this not why we pay insurance?! Sure, the premiums will rise for the riding school, but that is inevitable whatever kind of claim is made, be it trivial or this size. That is the nature of insurance! Lord know that the insurance companies get A LOT of money from the equestrian world - and should be expected to make large pay outs when accidents this severe occur. We choose to partake in an industry in which people occassional (and not so much "freak occurances" really) lose their lives.

Also, I think what many are missing here, is that when this accident occured, this girl was 13 and in the care of the riding school (she was helping out/working for them). With her being so young and under her supervision then they should have ensured she was wearing a hat when sent out to a field full of horses.

I personally am not overly shocked with this story - but then I read a lot of cases like this!

 

[hayliana]

cant believe such replies!!! moaning about your insurance hikes?! the girl is BRAIN DAMAGED! needing 24 hour care!

 

[Puppy]

*sniggers at Hayliana's sig being so appropriate*

 

[teapot]

How many of us though wear a hat when we go and get horses from a field?

When I worked at the yard we were bringing in 4 or 5 each with no time for faffing around with hats, gloves etc.

YES it is sad that she's lost her chance of leading a normal life so the money is deserved but makes you think about the other hundreds of people who suffer freak accidents each year and don't recieve anything surely?

 

[0]

i totally agree about the money..someone in my extended family has brain damage (she was born with it though and 'luckily' for her, her parents are millionaires - her parents have now died and my dad is the head of their estate (there's a title for this which i can't remember!!) and he hands out all their money and one day he was telling me how much it costs per year to keep the girl in a quite nice environment with the essential 24 hour care - i'll just say that £35k per year is less than my relative 'costs' per year NOW with todays money - add 2.5% inflation and even in ten years it really isn't enough. Moreover i'd rather have my brain than a few million quid.......i'm sure this is the common opinion amongst everyone!!!

However, i too am intruiged as to who paid, if it was the YO - is that really fair as the girl knew their were other horses in the field and we all know the risks everytime we enter a field with horses in it
if it was the horse owner is it really their fault - we cannot control out horses when they are out (if they are nasty then of course we can warn others but even the most placid horses can be unpredictable) and i would be put out if my horse kicked someone and i was blamed - with the best will in the world the owner cannot stop a horse who is loose in the field from doing anything really - i'm sure the owner was as upset (if not more) than everyone else and would have done anything to stop this if they could.

So, i think yes she should be paid (and i think more than she got) but i don't even know where to begin in allocating who should pay - there are reasons for and eagainst everyone that they could make pay and therefore no outcome would be totally fair or totally unfair!

Unless this family was very well off to start with i would be interested to know how they have coped for the last ten years before the settlement.

 

[Puppy]

Of course, hardly any of us wear a hat when catching our own horses!!

And yes, when I've worked at yards, I brought horses in without hat or gloves as an adult!!. Like yourself I often would chose not to wear safety equipment (hats, gloves) - but it was always available. A child in such a scenario should not be left to make the decision herself - use of it should be enforced by those responsible for her.

And I think this is what people are missing, this was a child; and the riding school assumed a duty of care to her by having her helping on the yard. Therefore, it was up to them to ensure that she was wearing the adequate safety equipment when handling their horses. What we would term in tort law as "taking reasonable steps" - Therefore, the riding school can legally have been expected to have done more to prevent such a foreseeable (maybe not especially "likely", but still "foreseeable") kind of injury.

[ QUOTE ]
but makes you think about the other hundreds of people who suffer freak accidents each year and don't recieve anything surely?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes it does. Which is why I don't view the "compensation culture" in the same way many people do, and I'm interested in working in such fields of the civil law.

HOWEVER, to sue for something like this then you have to prove that there was a chance of the type of harm that has occurred; that the accident was "foreseeable", abeit it often unlikely (so not truly "freak" accidents which you never could have imagined occurring) and that whomever is negligent/liable had not taken the "reasonable steps" that they could "reasonably" and legally have been expected to.

This is why many can/can't sue - because these requirements need to be met for a succesful claim. Something that may not be possible in a "freak accident" in the truest sense of the word, not the over-used sense.

 

[TequilaMist]

I think yard owner would be liable to pay if girl was helping out at yard.Think the thing here is the girl ,god bless her, was 13 if she had been older it may have been different.
A horse of mine spooked whilst friend was leading her.Friend fell,horse fell over friend and stood on friends head when it got up.Luckily friend skull fractured(know that sounds weird) and released pressure,if it hadn't she would be dead now.Friend spent over 3 month in coma and a further yr in rehab wards and is well enough now considering she was critical for ages and what happened but does have a certain amount of permenant damage.Informed insurers who sent me to solicitor and was told if friend had been 14 or under there would be no contest as to liability.As it was friend got sod all off my insurance as she would have to prove negligance .As it was accident not liable.Made me mad as friend lost a lot that year financially,physically and emotionally.I don't celebrate birthdays now as that was day it happened (and she had spoken of giving me box of chocs for it) and usually get deep depression on.
£2.5 million is not a lot as people have said and I am pretty sure yard owner and the horse owner would give more than that to turn clock back(I know I would) and they probably feel like sh*t.
Sorry to ramble on but even after 4 yrs its still a touchy subject.
Forgot to say this was under Scottish law

 

[Puppy]

[ QUOTE ]
I think yard owner would be liable to pay if girl was helping out at yard.Think the thing here is the girl ,god bless her, was 13 if she had been older it may have been different.


[/ QUOTE ]

Erm, yessss, did you read my post or just reply to it?!

 

[TequilaMist]

yes read your post as I said this subject is very touchy for me and do tend to ramble a bit.Sorry if you thought I hadn't, just thought I'd reply to this due to subject matter.........

 

[miller]

Yes it was a tragic accident BUT knowing the full story I think the payout is a joke

Accidents do happen and I'm a firm believer that a yard is not a creche for parents to leave their kids in the school holidays

 

[lordflynn]

[ QUOTE ]


Accidents do happen and I'm a firm believer that a yard is not a creche for parents to leave their kids in the school holidays

[/ QUOTE ]

the yard could have said no-by agreeing to have her there, they are responsible. as someone else said-that's what insurance is for!

 

[Sooty]

£2.1m is nothing. Really, in real terms, it's nothing. Jonathan Ross gets paid £6m a year by the BBC. Our village bypass cost £57.7m. For a ruined life and 24 hour care, it is paltry.

 

[miller]

I agree that's what insurance is for - just don't agree with the circumstances of the accident and the ongoing amount paid out.

I know it's gone through court but I see the girl involved around - along with her parents

 

[Sooty]

[ QUOTE ]
I know it's gone through court but I see the girl involved around - along with her parents

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, I don't see the connection between you seeing the girl and the amount of the payout. Are you saying you think there is some exaggeration of her condition? Or that she in some way brought the situation about by her own actions? Just a bit confused!

 

[lordflynn]

[ QUOTE ]


I know it's gone through court but I see the girl involved around - along with her parents

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[Puppy]

Yes, please elaborate Miller??

 

[miller]

I just feel that as a livery client - not someone 'helping out' at a riding school/livery yard parents should not drop children off and say ' I'll pick you up in an hour or two' and just expect the yard to keep an eye on them.

Personally, if I was a livery owner (as an adult) and I went into a field full of horses with a bucket of feed and one of the other horses (owned by another client) kicked me I should not expect to claim off the yards insurance but off the owner of that horse.

I also believe that accidents happen but that taking a bucket of feed into a field of horses is stupid and an ACCIDENT waiting to happen.

If I had a child and he/she ran in front of a car/bus whatever I wouldn't expect to sue the driver for damages - horses are unpredictable animals and accidents happen.

I'm not saying it isn't a tragic accident and shouldn't have happened, but as I said before a livery yard is not a school holiday creche for livery clients - if I had a child on a yard there is no way I would leave him/her there unattended while they rode at that girls age - staff on riding schools/livery yards are busy enough

 

[Sooty]

Presumably though you would tell your child not to run in front of a bus. Perhaps nobody told this child not to take a bucket of feed into the field. Troggy used to spend all the school holidays at a local riding school when she was younger, but was taught how to handle horses safely. You still haven't explained what you meant by saying you saw the girl and her parents around.

 

[burtie]

I'm confused now, the article states:
[ QUOTE ]
She was in a field trying to catch her horse when another horse galloped down with some others and kicked out.

[/ QUOTE ]

So was she there helping out the riding school with their permission and catching a horse she'd been asked to catch or was this her going to get her own horse from a field? I may sound like nit-picking and sadly it does not change the poor girls condition, but it does make a huge difference to responsibility and ultimately liability for this accident.
I just assumed she was trying to catch her own horse, therefore her own risk, so could not understand why the yard was liable?

 

[runaway]

I should be studying but decided to take a break and add my opinion.

Agree with what you say airedale that all along this appears to be a total accident and it is a shame that the outcome has been so devastating to all parties concerned.

For those of us who believe the pay out is rediculous lets look at it a different way. Take away the fact that this was at an equestrian establishment. If you or someone close to you sustained a similar injury would you not want financial support to help care for the injured person? To give you an idea of what a severe injury can incure financially - the loss of a leg can incur £25K in a prosthetic replacement alone, which needs replacing every 3 years! Not only that but if your weight changes or the prosthetic gets damaged you have to go back to specialists to get it sorted and they are not usually on your door step! (I speak from experience on this)

So there must be no denying that this young unfortunate lady is entitled to the financial support - hopefully her parents will invest it wisely.

I really feel that the question seriously needs to be asked if yards should not be allowed to get clients to sign a disclaimer (including livery clients as well as lesson clients). I believe everyone involved with horses must be aware of the possible risks. Yard owners would not deliberately put a person in danger and often have had to impliment strict regimes to limit any incidents. Without totally removing the client - horse contact apart from in the actual riding lesson what can they do other than have the ability to get disclaimers signed.

Just something to think on.