Equine Law Blog

Horse Racing Liabilities: A Case Study

An interesting, and tragic, case that Julie Fershtman handled several years ago involved a professional race horse driver’s death during a race at a Michigan race track.  Julie represented one of the defendants, the owner/trainer of a Standardbred race horse that broke stride during the race and slowed down near the finish line.  This allegedly caused a pile up of horses behind him on the track, and one of the drivers lost his life.

The lawsuit was targeted against the owner and trainer of the horse that broke stride.  It alleged that he was legally responsible for submitting an "unreasonably dangerous" horse into the race.  In fact, undisputed evidence existed that this horse had broken stride in past races and even had caused a collision a few weeks before the fatal race.

Although Michigan law abolished assumption of risk decades ago when it adopted comparative negligence, Julie nevertheless secured dismissal of the case for the owner/trainer under a theory of "inherent risks."  She essentially argued that the act of a horse breaking stride during a race was among the realities and “inherent risks” of horse racing activity.  Agreeing with Julie, and dismissing the case, the court issued a ruling holding that the owner/trainer was not liable because:

1. there were no violations of racing rules and the race horse at issue was qualified to enter and compete in the race; and
2. the act of a race horse "breaking" was a foreseeable and inherent risk in harness racing activity and was not a dangerous propensity.

[The case was: Rathka v. Kesler, Genesee County, Michigan, Circuit Court No.: 95-42110-NO.]

If you have any questions about this case, please contact Julie by using the form below.

Categories: Liability