Equine Law Blog
Here are common risks involving installment sales. Part III addresses ways to minimize them.
1) The Buyer Stops Making Payment
The most common risk of an installment payment arrangement is also the most foreseeable – the buyer stops paying. Horse owners, unlike banks, put themselves at greater risk of encountering this problem because they fail or refuse to gather important information about the creditworthiness of a buyer, even if the buyer is a total stranger.
Banks do it. Credit card issuers do it. Horses can be expensive, and buyers often ask sellers to spread out their payments over months, or even years. Should you, the horse seller, do it?
Ron Turcotte rose to fame after winning Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown riding the legendary “Secretariat.” He lost his own legal battle in New York after being seriously injured in a horse race, mainly because of New York’s doctrine of “assumption of risk.” Assumption of risk is a legal defense based on the theory that horse racing is an inherently dangerous sport and professional jockeys or drivers are best situated to know and appreciate the risks involved in the sport.
Are you held liable if a child trespasses onto your property and is injured?
Hazardous places, conditions, or things on the land that tend to lure unsuspecting children are commonly known as "attractive nuisances." Attractive nuisances are typically not natural conditions of the land, such as a pond, but rather are conditions that were created by the landowner or someone else on the property. Swimming pools are classic examples. Depending on the circumstances and how the state defines an “attractive nuisance,” a horse might qualify.
