High Court Appeal Lost - Compensation must be paid

[Sarah_Jane]

I posted a while ago and there was a right up in H&H about an apppeal case going to the High Court where a girl is claiming damages. She had a fall out riding and despite the owners found not be at fault they were found to be liable. The appeal went to the High Court.

The judges have upheld that there is a strict liability and damages must be paid. Where will it stop? Insurance premiums are going to put people out of business!

Western Morning News Article

 

[rema]

It is so silly and will open the floodgates for everyone who has fallen off a horse they do not own.Mathew and his wife buy and sell horses but i expect they will be thinking is it worth doing so anymore for everytime they have a potential client come and try a horse out they will be worried that they will be getting sued if someone comes off the horse.Christ people fall off horses everyday but dont try and sue everybody.

 

[Tinkerbee]

I hate this modern compensation culture

 

[casey2312]

I read about that in the H&H...I cant believe the judge upheld it. What a bloody nightmare.

 

[Navalgem]

I agree, riding is a risk sport, people should understand that it will hapen. I hate the compensation culture when people blatantly take advantage of it.

 

[PapaFrita]

Makes me glad to live in a country where if you fall of you get back on... or not. But suing would be a total waste of time and money.

 

[Flicker]

What happens if someone else is riding your horse and they come off? I've offered rides on the mare to a girl on our livery yard but I'm going to have to think twice if I could have the pants sued off me if she comes off.

PS - PapaFrita - beautiful pictures.

 

[trelawnyhorses1]

well what happens now if some one falls off when they come to try a horse??

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
PS - PapaFrita - beautiful pictures.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thank you very much

I expect you were asking generally and not to me specifically, but I think your horse insurance will cover anyone you allow to ride your horse. Not that this makes it any more fun getting sued!
If anyone falls off here... well, they get up and dust themselves off, or get taken away in an ambulance, but nobody ever blames anyone else.

 

[Flicker]

Yes - I grew up and learnt to ride in Johannesburg. It was the same story there. In fact, if you fell off during a lesson, you had to make a cake for the instructor!!
Society is certainly very litigious these days. I will definitely have to check my insurance and hers before she rides my horse again. Isn't that sad - really takes the fun out of it!

 

[severnmiles]

Perhaps riding schools should introduce a contract to be signed, very sad but its the only way I can see them being able to survive with claims such as this.

 

[Guinness]

i used to work at a riding centre (riding holidays) and all clients had to sign a disclaimer in case they had an accident, our insurance premiums were through the roof as well...

 

[severnmiles]

[ QUOTE ]
i used to work at a riding centre (riding holidays) and all clients had to sign a disclaimer in case they had an accident, our insurance premiums were through the roof as well...

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats it! Disclaimer not contract...what was I thinkin

Its the only way for them that I can see...such a shame

 

[Tinkerbee]

yep, both yards ive worked at have had disclaimers, but both still had to shut due to ridiculous premiums

 

[dieseldog]

I don't think disclaimers are worth thepaper they are written on if you can prove negelience (sp). And now if you know that a horse as a species is capable of rearing you are neglient

 

[Jiffy]

*Rolls eyes*

You should know this thread will probably set Puppy off again!

 

[Donkeymad]

Well, you can say goodbye to all riding schools, trekking centres and such like. The USA have disclaimers against non-negligence accidents. Then again, the sueing culture came from them!
Judges need to wake up and learn about horses.

 

[MagicMelon]

Pretty dreadful really. The judges are clearly morons. And why did the girl take them to court anyway?! I dont understand that - sure, IF someone is to blame then fine. But in this case Im sure she can see that the pony had no history of this behaviour and she was there wanting to ride! I see no point in making other people suffer when they aren't to blame and why the hell make money out of her head injury!

 

[Onyxia]

[ QUOTE ]
If anyone falls off here... well, they get up and dust themselves off, or get taken away in an ambulance, but nobody ever blames anyone else.

[/ QUOTE ]
Used to be like that here.
Remember all too well falling off, horse landed on my leg and my jnee dislocated.
Instructer was screaming at me to check horse was OK while I was hobbling about in agony,lol!

Of course if someone is hurt because all possable precautions were not taken and they lose wages ect because of it then they deserve to be compensated- but this idear of claim for every little thing really winds me up.

 

[Merlotmonster]

You cannot disclaim against death or personal injury under the Unfair Contracts Act. People still ask you to sign them, but as Dieseldog says, they arent worth the paper they are written on.

 

[severnmiles]

The funny thing is if I went to a trekking center and fell off I wouldn't even think to claim....its becoming a sad world

 

[seansheep]

another thing I think fuels this sort of thing is that even if you HAVE personal insurance the insurance companies do everything they can to avoid paying out (beancounters and shareholders to keep happy, sod the customer)

people take out e.g. ski insurance and sometimes the company says - well we're not paying out 'cos you skiied on the shady side of the wrong mountain on the wrong colour run on a friday 13th (ie any bl**dy excuse)

If it was mandatory for people to have personal sports insurance (and there IS rider insurance available) then these sort of issues ought to be covered by insurance.

What is wrong is that the insurance companies take the money and then don't want to pay out in a claim - THAT is a lot of what is behind this sort of court case.

The yard e.g. is insured (even if the premiums are astronomical) but when a claim is made they don't want to pay out so it goes to court and the court awards make things worse - which in a vicious circle makes the insurance more expensive - which makes the insurers even more unwilling to pay out - and so we all go round again.

That is one of the reasons why NFU is one of the better insurance companies - it is a 'mutual' and there are NO shareholders to keep happy. Profits per se are passed back to the customers in the level of the premiums they pay.

It's not all down to personal 'greed' and the 'compensation culture' - at lot can be put firmly at the door of the insurance companies who whenever they get involved seem to make a bad situation into a crisis (to misquote an old saying !)

 

[Mr_Ed]

Contrary to popular belief we do not have a compensation culture. In general, the number of claims is falling and the majority of claims brought to court fail. However of course, whilst the media is happy to report such claims it never reports that they haven't been successful, fuelling the compensation culture myth.

The appeal judges had little option in this case because they were bound by the strict liability imposed under the badly worded Animals Act 1971. It is this Act that may be seen as the culprit and over the past few years attempts have been and currently being made to amend it.

For further details see: http://www.ridingsafely.net/july_2007_news.html#LegalCases

 

[Orangehorse]

I thought the girl who was injured was working for these people. It was a well behaved animal and she was a good rider.

It is a crazy decision. This means that every horse in the land is a potential hazard and the owner is strictly liable whatever the circumstances.

Was this legal decision taken under the Act of Parliament that some people are trying to get amended?

 

[Merlotmonster]

I dont agree that its all just down to insurance companies trying to get out of paying. Most people dont read the policy documents and then get upset when the claim is turned down. If they are covered then the claim is paid, simple as that. I work in personal injury claims for an insurer and we rarely take cases to court. If we can settle out of court then its much cheaper as the only winners are the lawyers with their fees. We dont deny liability if there are clear breaches of duty or negligence on the part of the client. Your comments are based on prejudice not fact.