Full livery/duty of care/urgent ish question

R2R

R2R

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If anyone wants the ins and outs of this will be happy to PM. Basically I need to know, if livery has been paid (full livery) at the agreed rate, on time, and the cheque has been cashed and cleared, can a livery (yard) owner refuse to muck out/water/hay/feed a horse because of a petty fall out? And then refuse to refund the £200ish owing, becasue you have no option other than move the horse (really)
Who has the duty of care?
 
A service has been paid for - and should be fullfilled. As the cheque has been cashed the recipient has made a contract with the payee to fullfill that contract. And yes they have a duty of care.
 
I claimed against a yard and the crux of it was duty of care, or lack of it.
I won :), so I would say yes, they do have a duty of care.
 
If you have a full livery contract, you have paid for it and it has not been fulfilled then whoever has the responsibility for fulfilling that contract is at fault.

If they won't refund then you have grounds for a case against them.
 
Most definately the YO as they have happily cashed the payment therefore liable I believe for the welfare of the horse as it's on Full livery...as per contract assuming a contract is in place?.

I would either get the money back or stay until the period of which the payment was for is finished then move...but at all times the horse's welfare is of upmost importance yes.
 
Seems a really odd thing for a YO to do! I am a YO and there is no way I would ever refuse to care for a horse that had been paid for. I have over the years fallen out with two of my liveries. One, because of the way he was mistreating his horses field mate. I banned him from going near her and gave him notice to leave, but I continued to care for his horse until she was moved. The other was just a really wierd self obsessed woman with what I think was a histrionic personality disorder (yes I am trained in psychology). I couldn't WAIT for her to leave the yard but cared for her two beautiful horses for two mnonths after the fall out. So yes, your YO DOES have a duty of care for your horse if you have paid for the livery, though I do believe they have the right to restrict you personally from the yard until you move your horse.
 
It seems a fairly simple breach of contract. You have provided, and they have accepted, the consideration, and then failed to fulfil their contract with you. As far as the money is concerned think you would have a very decent case for small claims court, plus any further costs you have had to incur to rectify the situation (new livery bill for the period, transport costs). As they had a contract with you I am quite sure duty of care would fall on them too, but I am not a lawyer, just have had a bit of training on it. Small claims would prob be best way to go though to rectify costs if nothing else.
 
also check your contract to see if you pay in advance or in arrears?

not that this affects any duty of care, but you (or whoever this is) wants to be ready to say you've paid in advance as per contract (if this is the case) but no services have been provided...
 
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Even if they offer refund I would think they have frustrated the contract they entered into. U have a contractual relationship and i'm guessing there is a month's notice period to leave. U contract their service on a monthly basis and ur contract sets the reasonable notice period as a month, assuming that it does. They should give u a month. Notice of stopping doing ur horse. Alternatively if ur contract is renewed monthly each time u pay they have contracted to finish that month. Without more info I couldn't be anymore use. Good luck though.
 
It always boils down to the contract and whether the petty dispute is actually more than that and you've repudiated the contract/ you or they've terminated it etc. In the absence of more information, if you have paid for services, they should provide them. If they're not providing them, they are likely to be in repudiatory breach. That said, is it really worth fighting over £200? If it were my horse, I'd be picking it up and moving it somewhere else, sharpish. Perhaps telling YO you want the feed and bedding you've paid for and taking it with you.

I'm not suggesting £200 isn't a lot of money, just that in the context of a dispute, it's not necessarily enough money to warrant court (in terms of costs, heartache, time etc).

Is there a written contract? Read it carefully.

I'm also a YO and can't imagine any YO doing that. Apalling behaviour.
 
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