Equine Law Blog

Farrier Malpractice

Generally speaking, the law imposes a duty on professionals, such as farriers, to use reasonable skill, diligence and attention as may ordinarily be expected of a careful and skillful person in the same profession.  If you believe a farrier has fallen short of this standard, you might have grounds to bring legal action against him or her for professional negligence or malpractice. Read More ›

Categories: Liability

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Avoid Installment Sale Disputes

Banks do it.  Credit card issuers do it.  Horses can be expensive, and buyers often want to spread out their payments over time.  Should you, the horse seller, do it?

The business of extending credit is risky. The horse seller and the bank have much in common when they agree to extend financing.  Both take a risk that the buyer will make payments faithfully.  But that is where the similarities end.  Banks protect themselves by credit checks, financial disclosures, and detailed contracts.  Not so in the horse industry.  Horse sellers often part with a horse merely on a handshake and with only a tiny fraction of the purchase price paid up front -- just minutes after meeting a total stranger who wants to buy the horse.

This article discusses some pitfalls of installment sales transactions and offers some practical suggestions for avoiding them. Read More ›

Categories: Sales/Disputes

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Why Do Liability Releases Sometimes Fail?

"Releases are not worth the paper they're written on."  Is this really true?  Generally speaking, no.  What is true, however, is that releases of liability (also called "waivers")  are probably the most misunderstood contracts in the entire horse industry. Read More ›

Categories: Liability

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Legal Aspects of “Half Lease”/"Share Board" Arrangements

People in the horse industry sometimes enter into arrangements through which the horse is shared by agreement between two people, while only one of them owns the horse.  People in the horse industry call these arrangements “half lease” or “share board” arrangements.  They may seem simple but, in the eyes of the law, they can be complicated and call for a carefully written contract.  Here are a few details to consider: Read More ›

Categories: Boarding, Contracts, Liability

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Can Injured Trainers Sue Horse Owners?

Horse trainers, it might seem, should expect the risk of being thrown or injured by the horses they train.  Over the years, however, injured trainers have sued their clients, and sometimes they win.  As explained below, trainers are more likely to win if they can prove that the owner or stable knew that the horse had unusually dangerous tendencies but failed to warn them.  Trainers are more likely to lose if the risk at issue was an “inherent risk” or an “assumed risk.” Read More ›

Categories: Liability

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Equine Leases – Avoiding Disputes When They End

What happens when an equine lease ends, but the lessee refuses to return the horse?  Can the lessor (the “lessor is the one who owns the horse and leases it to another) simply enter the premises and remove it?  A lessor owns the horse, and one would expect that he or she can simply re-claim the property, even if it means entering someone else's land and taking away the horse.  Be careful!

Problems can occur, especially when a lease agreement is not in writing.  For example, what if the “lessee” (the “lessee” is the one who takes possession of the leased horse under the terms of the lease agreement) thought he bought the horse?  Or, what if the lessee thought the lease was not over? Read More ›

Categories: Contracts, Sales/Disputes

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Watch Out For Horse Show Liabilities

We expect judges to appear at horse shows.  But horse shows sometimes appear before judges – in a courtroom.

Liabilities

Participants and spectators are occasionally injured at shows.  When this happens, they sometimes sue under theories of negligence or an applicable state equine activity liability act.  Both are discussed briefly below. Read More ›

Categories: Liability

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Horse Tip Daily #496 - Veterinary Malpractice 101

This segment addresses the basics of veterinary malpractice - what it is and what it isn't.

Categories: Liability, Radio Broadcasts, Veterinary Malpractice

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Perils of the Verbal Contract

“Get it in writing!”  No matter how often lawyers utter these cautionary words,  people in the horse industry continue to do business on a handshake.  Unfortunately, legal disputes involving verbal agreements are rarely quick, easy, or cheap to resolve.  Why? 

With nothing in writing, each party to the transaction often has a totally different understanding of what it involved.  As a result, it sometimes takes a lengthy lawsuit to prove the contract’s terms. 

Those who fail or refuse to use written agreements accept the risk that any number of problems can occur.  Here are some of them: Read More ›

Categories: Contracts, Liability, Sales/Disputes

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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Lawsuits for Defective Equine Products

Disputes involving defective horse feed have, in some instances, turned into lawsuits.  Several years ago, I worked on a case where a horse died from blister beetle poisoning, and the horse owners sued a product manufacturer, the hay grower, and the hay seller.

“Blister beetle poisoning” is a type of poisoning that can result when a horse ingests a number of beetles called “blister beetles.”  In the tissue of these types of beetles is a toxic substance called “cantharidin.”  Blister beetles sometimes swarm in or near alfalfa fields in certain regions of the United States, typically the Southwest, and at certain times of the year.  When those alfalfa fields are cut and baled for hay, blister beetles sometimes get caught in the hay and are not always immediately visible.  Later, horses eating the hay might ingest blister beetles.  Some will die or become seriously injured. Read More ›

Categories: Liability

Posted by: Julie I. Fershtman

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