My horse died today, legal help needed please!

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ROCKHOLE

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Today my horse has had to be destroyed after breaking his elbow very badly. He fell into an open trench left by a farm worker yesterday. He wasn't insured as of no great value other than being my best friend. I rent my field on a grass livery basis and have no contract. Can anyone offer any legal advice, please help.
 
Can't offer you any legal advice I'm afraid, but can offer you my sympathy. What a horrible and unnecessary thing to happen.
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I'm sure someone on here will be able to help you.
 
What a dreadful thing to happen. So sorry for you. I lost a horse last year who was also my best friend, & understand what a great shock this must be for you.

((((hugs))))

T xxx
 
Did you pay for the field as part of a livery contract fro a yard? Had anyone such as yourself asked the workers to make sure they secured the area before they left? Were the workers official contractors?

Sorry to hear about your loss
 
Sorry to hear of your loss, that must be dreadful for you.
What assistance do you require? If you say he was of no value, you may be putting yourself through a lot of stress and agro for not very much money. The process of suing someone is longwinded and will only add to your sadness at this time. PM me if you like.
 
Can't offer you any legal help I'm afraid, other than to maybe contact the BHS who may be able to help you.

So sorry for your loss - only time will heal ((((hugs))))
 
You could do him for neglegence (sp) as he has a duty to not cause an unsafe environment for horse and human, sooo sorry for you loss, my thought are with you

x
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Sorry to hear of your loss, that must be dreadful for you.
What assistance do you require? If you say he was of no value, you may be putting yourself through a lot of stress and agro for not very much money. The process of suing someone is longwinded and will only add to your sadness at this time. PM me if you like.

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I agree. I know you must be angry and want someone to pay, but perhaps an apology would help. Let the people who are responsible know of your pain. I am so very, very sorry and am sending you <<<Hugs>>> xx
 
So sorry, my heart goes out to you. Hope something can be resolved out of this dreadful accident, to prevent it happening in the future to anyone else.
 
I rent a house and I pay per horse for grazing in front of the house. Theres no formal agreement on either. The horse's have been there for 2 years. The land owner/farmer is away on holiday and it as his employees that left the trench.
 
Sorry to hear of your loss. Poor lad.

To be able to claim compensation, if a third party is deemed negligent, you would have to be able to put a value on the horse. No point in suing when you don't have a value for the loss of your horse in mind + the fees for his euthanasia and disposal. Someone who knew your horse would have to be able to assess his value at the time of his death surely?

Were you aware of the works having been done and the fact that the field was left the way it was? If so, there may be a chance that you might find any case you brought against the land owner is dismissed on the grounds of you both being held jointly accountable. Ie....they were negligent to leave a ditch in grazing land, but you had the option to remove your horse if you felt the grazing was unsafe...therefore they may find you equally negligent for leaving him in the field. (I'm not saying your negligent, just making you aware of how the land owner might counter claim if you try to sue them).

Alot depends on the terms of your contract. If you simply rent the field who is normally responsible for the maintenance of it...you or the land owner?

Right now, you need to grieve for your best friend. There's plenty of time to decide if you want to bring a civil case at a later date. Have you taken pictures of the ditch etc?
 
How awful for you.It's heartbreaking enough to lose your horse to natural causes or illness, to lose him like this must be devastating.Have you tried a site like answerbank?There are a lot of legal types on there who might be able to point you in the right direction at least, I found them very helpful, however it wasn't an equestrian legal query I had.So sorry for your loss.
 
What a horrible situation - so sorry that you lost a horse in such a tragic way. I would be careful about taking legal action as you are in quite a vulnerable position if you rent both your house and field with no formal contract. Hopefully the farmer will at least apologise, but as you are not insured I don't think you will be able to do much.
 
So sorry.
My friend had a terrible accident happen to her horse .The place where he was at livery opened a gate and he went into a field with a plough in it. He cut through his tendon and had to be put down .She got a lawyer and it was looking promising, she had to get letters to support his value [ he was an old show jumper and still winning classes] They were insured with NFU. Then suddenly after she had spent a lot of money, which she didn't have, they said although the farm was insured , it was not insured for horses. She could have sued him personally but she had no more money to spend and it was uncertain who had opened the gate.
I wish you every success, but be careful. Sorry again
 
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I rent a house and I pay per horse for grazing in front of the house. Theres no formal agreement on either. The horse's have been there for 2 years. The land owner/farmer is away on holiday and it as his employees that left the trench.

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I assume the farmer has public liability and insurance to have your horses on his land? If he is covered, then it would be a third party liability claim you would be looking at bringing against him.

Are the employees "proper" employees that he pays a proper wage and tax etc for? If they are, then his liability should cover any negligence of his employees. The Employer is generally responsible for any negligent act any of his employees commit.

It would be down to the insurance assessors to determine who, if anyone, is liable or whether it's simply an unfortunate accident.

Strange that you have no contract for the rental of the house and the land. Do you not get receipts when you've paid? Is the house also owned by the farmer? I must warn you that you would have to be prepared to be served notice to leave if you do decide to bring a civil case against your landlord. Legal battles can cause resentment and your landlord may no longer wish to keep you as tenants on the land or in the house.
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i would speak to citizens advice you should have a contract for your house and for your livery if it is beening classed as a bunniess other wise you can get them done for not paying there taxes coz to me it sounds like money in the back pocket. i am so sorry for ur loss i know how you are feeling due to i lost my horse on sunday!
 
The farm manager told my dad that they were filling it in, this was at tea time yesterday, they gave me no warnings. I didn't inspect afterwards. I feel responsible, I had no idea the depth of the whole, the trench they dug on our drive was only shallow and I stupidly assumed it was all the same.
When I say he had no great value, he was a completely sound bombproof hack, aged 15. He had impeccible manners and a really gentle nature right till the end. Priceless.
 
Like some have said above, whilst he may have meant the world to you, unfortunately he will only be valued in monetary terms in any legal procedure, since it is impossible to quantify love. It's easy to want to snap-react in horrible circumstances like this but you have to consider, would getting back his monetary worth make you feel better? Or would a truly sincere apology by those responsible be worth more? If the latter, then try talking to them, or if you can't talk to them, write them an honest letter telling them how upset you are. There are very few truly heartless people in the world who wouldn't regret causing another person hurt.

ETS: Perhaps we have different ideas of value but I'd think an impeccably behaved 15yo bombproof sound hack would certainly be worth something.
 
Many years ago I lost my mare while she was at stud. To this day I believe she died through their negligence, but sueing would never have brought her back and would only have made me relive the misery of it week after week while the inevitable legal battle went on. I cried and I cursed and then took the advice of someone who cared a lot about me and moved on.

I was young and, in hindsight, perhaps I should have done more if only to ensure that any negligent behaviour was exposed so it couldn't happen to anyone else.

I suppose what I'm saying is let the grieving process take its course. Don't rush and do anything rash now but, like others have said, once you're feeling stronger just think about what you will achieve by taking action. Do you want financial recompense; will your actions protect others or do you just want the farmer to accept responsibility and apologise?

I really feel for you, all these years later it comes back to me and I'm almost in tears now. Just deal with your emotions for now and leave the rest for a little while.
 
Highly unlikely I would think - and hope! The OP has no contract, there is nothing to say what the landowner has to provide, including any references to safety. No nsurance, no contract - no chance, at a guess. No doubt one of the ambulance chasers would take it on, but that doesn't guarantee a successful outcome.
 
You cant claim for emotional distress. It has to be a recognised psychiatric injury, but even then the test of remoteness would have to be applied. Even in the Hillsborough case, the families who witnessed the horror on TV failed in their bid for compensation.
 
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I rent a house and I pay per horse for grazing in front of the house. Theres no formal agreement on either. The horse's have been there for 2 years. The land owner/farmer is away on holiday and it as his employees that left the trench.

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it is an employer's duty to ensure that their employees are adequately trained in order that they are able and equipped to carry out tasks in the course of their employment adquately and without risk of harm to themselves or others.

do you rent the house from the farmer? it is clear that there is knowledge of the presence of your equines in the field and whilst i would assume that the onus is upon yourself to carryout maintenance and inspection to the field which is paid for it may well be the case that this could well fall within the realms of reasonableness. has reasonable care and precaution been carried out to ensure that the area of work is left in a safe maner so as not to cause reasonably forseeable harm.

however, what you submit a claim for will also play a part in determining any sucess. emotional distress alone will be unlikely to attract any substantial settlement or a settlement which refelcts your loss.

can you really put a price on your best friend... you have said so yourslef, you cant.

personally i would leave well alone... if you have failed to insure the animal then you are recognising that there is no financial worth, however, vets bils and destroy fees may well be a reasonable head of claim.

in law insurers are only obliged to provide financial reimbursement for the current worth of the loss ie what it was worth at the time of loss.


lastly i must add that i am so sorry for your loss
xx
 
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