Equine Law Blog
Imagine the shock of returning from a lengthy vacation only to learn that your horse died at the boarding stable soon after you left, but stable management could not reach you to consent to needed surgery. Your horse was put down. Imagine the further shock when your equine insurance company advises you that it has denied your claim because nobody gave it proper or timely notice of your horse’s illness and death.
Equine insurance policies usually require that you give the company (or designated representative) prompt notice of an insured horse's illness, lameness, or injury. Insurers take these provisions very seriously, and many will deny claims on the basis that they were not given proper notice. When this happens, litigation sometimes follows.
When finances are tight, people sometimes consider canceling or reducing their liability insurance coverage. Watch out – this could be mistake.
What is Liability Insurance?
Liability insurance as to equine activities is designed to protect people from certain unintentional situations where someone is injured either on your property, from an act that occurs around your horse (such as a bite or kick), when your horse gets loose, or from acts that occur when someone rides your horse.
A few years ago I represented buyers of a horse who were victims of sales fraud. We took the case to trial, and we won. The judge even ordered the sellers to pay 100% of my clients’ legal fees.
The facts of the case were not complex. My clients bought a show horse for their daughter, a novice rider. In sales literature, the sellers represented this horse, a gelding, as “sound” with “no bad habits” and “ready to show.” My clients brought their daughter before the sale to test ride the horse, and he behaved beautifully in a chaotic environment with many distractions. Two days after the purchase, however, the horse showed drastic behavioral changes. He was unruly and dangerous. The sellers refused to reverse the sale. Left with a dangerous, unsound, and unsuitable horse, my clients had no choice but to hire me to help.
The fact is, many sales disputes can be avoided. Here are eight suggestions for what sellers should not do when selling a horse:
In these difficult financial times, more boarding stable customers than ever are falling behind in their board payments.
Stable’s Rights
Many states have stablemen's lien laws (sometimes called “agister's lien laws”) that often give the stable a lien (or right of lien) on the boarded horse. In some states, the lien is created automatically, but in other states, procedures, such as a suit, must be taken to formalize the lien. Laws can also address whether the stable can deduct side charges (such as legal fees, hauling fees, sale fees, or others) from the sale proceeds. With wide variations among the laws, stable managers need to check the law carefully before taking drastic action.
