Liability question

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Lucy_Ally

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If someone falls from your horse and seriously injures themself, as an owner are you liable? The horse did not misbehave, was in a secure arena and all equipment and tack were in good order; the fall was purely due to rider inexperience. No money or 'gifts' exchanged, this was just a favour for a friend of a friend.

Any advice (particularly from legal bods) appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Unfortunately no
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Ah, in that case is the horse insured, could you give your insurers a call and speak to them, I think insurance companies usually have a legal department.
 
I would imagine that the other party would need to show that your negligence caused the fall; if the other person is thinking of suing you, I would (aside from the obv. bit of seeking legal advice) start speaking to anyone who could give your horse a character witness (instructor/YM/the more qualified and experienced the better).

Hope nothing unpleasant is happening
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Yes, my horse is insured and I will phone my insurers on Monday.

I have witnesses to say that the horse did not misbehave. At the moment no action has been taken (and may not) but I want to know where I stand should the injured party try to claim off my insurance.

If anyone has been in this situation, I would be interested in the circumstances/outcome.
 
there was no contract and no intention to create legal relations. This is a purely social setting. Had you made any claims to suggest your horse was safe? was the rider an adult and made aware of the risks of horseriding? As Megan suggests there will be a need to establish duty of care and negligence. Defences include willing assumption of risk or contributory negligence (did the rider do anything to aid the fall as it were) I would seek legal advice if there is a chance of any unpleasantness but it will depend on the answers to the above questions. I am not legally qualified in any way and would seek help asap if this is not hypothetical. The fact that serious injury has been caused may increase the legal burden.
 
I have been in a situation where a horse which I was trying for a client kicked someone when she walked up behind it, and she was knocked out and broke her arm very badly.
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I felt absolutely terrible about it, but the advice I got from another client (a barrister) and from the NFU (my insurers) was that unless the lady could show that I had been negligent, then there was no basis for a claim.

Since the horse was being tried for an elderly person, and we had taken great steps to ask the dealer it came from that it was quiet and suitable in all respects (and in fact had specifically asked if it kicked and were told it didn't), I hadn't done anything to make the horse kick, and she was the one who walked up behind it, there was no basis for a claim.

However
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they have 3 years to make a claim, so sit down with a pen and paper and write down EVERYTHING about the circumstances - the who, why, what, how, where etc, including weather conditions, witnesses, get character statements about the horse, anything you can think of, and the sooner the better. Your insurance company will probably want a statement just in case there is a claim at a later date.

Isn't it awful that when something like this happens, the first thing we think of is "litigation"
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Speak to your insurers on monday - my guess would be the last thing they want is to have to payout so they would want to do everything possible to help you?

Did you take out the legal support option with your policy?

I have a feeling that there was a case recently where someone tried to sue a RS after falling off and the case was thrown out because riding is a risk sport.
 
Thanks
In answer to your questions:

I did not claim the horse was safe but I did say she has been ridden by novice riders before. She watched another person ride and so had seen the horse ridden for herself. She asked me if she could ride and I ensured she spent a good amount of time getting used to the horse in walk and trot. I asked lots of times if she felt happy and wanted to contine, to which she said yes. She asked if she could canter, I replied that the horse in question has a big stride and I warned her that she is bouncy ride, but again she wanted to press on, this is when the fall happened.
The rider is an adult and has ridden before when younger but had a long break. She has fallen before and was aware of the risks.

The injury is serious, but not life-threatening and there is no risk of paralysis or long-term permanent damage.

Such a blooming nightmare
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Thanks for your reply. Luckily I have a witness who also saw the whole accident, but I will write down all the details for when I phone the insurance company on Monday.

I don't think that she will claim, but I don't know her well and you never know. It is sad we live in such a blame culture and grown people seem incapable of taking responsibility for their actions, hopefully this won't be the case here.
 
Id rind your insurers, but cant imagine she can take legal action if it was her choice to continue riding the horse, she asked to ride the horse, and you as an owner are not there to provide a service such as a riding school. Am i right?
 
It just gets better doesn't it?
This sue culture really p*sses me off!
If you get on a horse, be prepared to fall off!!
It's got a brain and a mind of it's own,.
If you fell from a mates motorbike, would you sue him???

It's about time people started taking reponsibilty for their own actions and decisions and stopped trying to blame everyone else
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[ QUOTE ]
Id rind your insurers, but cant imagine she can take legal action if it was her choice to continue riding the horse, she asked to ride the horse, and you as an owner are not there to provide a service such as a riding school. Am i right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct
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She has made no move to make a claim as yet, I just want to be fully informed in case she does.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Id rind your insurers, but cant imagine she can take legal action if it was her choice to continue riding the horse, she asked to ride the horse, and you as an owner are not there to provide a service such as a riding school. Am i right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really, no.

Anyone riding someone else's horse can sue the owner if they fall off - the success of their legal action is another thing alltogether
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Regardless of whether someone is 'providing a service' or not, if the owner's negligence resulted in a fall than the rider could well be successful.
 
[ QUOTE ]
It just gets better doesn't it?
This sue culture really p*sses me off!
If you get on a horse, be prepared to fall off!!
It's got a brain and a mind of it's own,.
If you fell from a mates motorbike, would you sue him???

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, no action has been taken by the injured party, I just want to be prepared in case she does.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It just gets better doesn't it?
This sue culture really p*sses me off!
If you get on a horse, be prepared to fall off!!
It's got a brain and a mind of it's own,.
If you fell from a mates motorbike, would you sue him???

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, no action has been taken by the injured party, I just want to be prepared in case she does.

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand that, but you shouldn't even have to be thinking of this.
 
[ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, no action has been taken by the injured party, I just want to be prepared in case she does.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like you're taking the right steps
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Definately speak to your insurers ASAP (assuming you are covered for Third Party Liability).

They will want to know about any incident/accident involving a Third Party Injury, whether it gives rise to a claim or not.

I imagine they will ask you to fill in an Accident report form, and will need contact detals of your witness and the injured party, along with a detailed description of what happened and the extent of the TP injuries.

Hopefully the injured party won't attempt to claim, but if they do (and yes, I understand they can take up to three years to make a claim) your Liability Insurers will be defending your case.

A perfect example of why we need to have TP liability insurance!!

Good luck, and here's hoping they won't try to claim......
 
cover your bases by taking the steps you propose but I think even if she did bring a claim she would be ajudged to have consented to the risk by getting on/ staying on the horse.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Id rind your insurers, but cant imagine she can take legal action if it was her choice to continue riding the horse, she asked to ride the horse, and you as an owner are not there to provide a service such as a riding school. Am i right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really, no.

Anyone riding someone else's horse can sue the owner if they fall off - the success of their legal action is another thing alltogether
wink.gif


Regardless of whether someone is 'providing a service' or not, if the owner's negligence resulted in a fall than the rider could well be successful.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, OK, it does sound like care had been taken to ensure she was comfortable to continue, as it has been explained that the rider had been asked several times if she wanted to continue, she suggested the canter, not the owner
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Yes, I do have TP insurance (up to £1,000,000). This happened on New Years day (good start to the year!!), will I be ok to leave it until Monday or should I try and speak to anyone today/tomorrow?

It has really put me off letting anyone ride her from now on.
 
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I guess it depends on how worried you are Dr_Spring.

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Fairly worried! Lol! However, having just checked my insurance policy I have 60 days to inform them of any incident so should be ok to wait until Monday.
 
It may not be exactly the same situation here, but there is a recent case called Marian Farmer -v- Higher Park Farm which makes interesting reading, especially for riding schools and I think it should be more widely known. It won't present a complete defence in every case, but I think it may be useful generally.

Very briefly, Ms Farmer, an experienced rider, wanted a forward going horse to hack out in a group at a riding school. She was given a mare known to buck when going into canter and was told this and asked if she could cope and she said yes. She had been assessed as being a capable rider by the school. Off went the hack and on being asked if she was ok to canter, said yes. The mare duly bucked as warned and she was again asked if she wanted to continue or swap horses with another rider who liked riding the mare. I should stress that the buck was only known to be smallish and not a complete fit. She said she was ok to carry on. However, on next cantering, the mare did, for the first time known to anyone, buck much more seriously and Ms Farmer fell off.

The case ended up in the Court of Appeal and Ms Farmer lost, the court deciding that in the first place the serious bucking into canter was not known and that is a defence to an Animals Act claim, but more importantly to my mind, the court found that she had indeed voluntarily assumed the risk of riding that horse, having had her bucking made known to her, been assessed, checked before canter and then asked whether she wanted to change horses.

As I said, please don't take this as something to rely on in all cases, but I think it may help as long as riding schools do correct risk assessments of their horses (amongst other things) assess their riders and agree the level of capability with the rider, give them a suitable horse and make any known quirks known. It may even now help if there is a poster or similar on a wall stating that riding is a risk sport, which before this case may have been of little help. Then throughout the lesson or hack, keep re-assessing the situation if there is any doubt. May sound like a right pain but soon becomes second nature and may just tip the balance in the defendant's favour if there's a potential claim.

If you're interested, the case of MacClancy-v- The Vine Riding and Livery Yard Centre ( also known as the Jill Carenza case) 2007 is worth a look for the scathing comments of the judge who found against the claimant, saying things like "The English countryside is not manicured - it would hardly be good training for hunting if it was!" (the claimant had said she was taking lessons with a view to going hunting when she was knocked off her horse by a tree branch).

Sorry if this is a bit heavy duty for a Saturday evening, but I know what a worry potential litigation is to everyone, and I just hope that the courts are beginning to see that some things are indeed just accidents and no-one is to blame.
 
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