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12 J. Animal & Nat. Resource L. 159 (2016)
Equine Liability Statutes: Are the Courts Moving in the Wrong Direction

handle is hein.journals/janimlaw12 and id is 173 raw text is: Equine Liability Statutes: Are the Courts Moving in the Wrong Direction? 1 3S EQUINE LIABILITY STATUTES: ARE THE COURTS MOVING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION? BRUCE MANDEVILLE* I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND This paper will focus on cases heard in five different state Supreme Courts (Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas), all involving equine-related injuries, and on those courts' application and interpretation of the Equine Liability Statutes (ELA).' Forty-six states have enacted some form of Equine Liability Statutes,2 which generally apply to those equine injury cases wherein inherent risk is deemed to be the cause of the injury. Most ELAs are essentially similar in structure, though some variation may be seen from state to state. The first section of the ELA often contains definitions, among them the important definition of inherent risk. This definition includes the unpredictability of an equine's reaction and the risk of a participant acting negligently and not being able to control his or her horse. This section of the statutes is discussed below, under the heading The Importance of Inherent Risk. In the ELA definition section an equine activity is also defined, whereas a spectator may not be (in CT, MI, OH, TX it is not, while * Bruce Mandeville currently teaches Equine Business, Law, Contemporary Issues, Conformation and some hands-on classes. In addition to equestrian sport, he was also a competitive skier, twice British Columbia slalom champion as a teenager. He obtained a Bachelor of Commerce and law degree from the University of British Columbia in addition to some language degrees from the Universit6; Paris-Sorbonne in Paris, France. Following his graduation he worked as assistant to President for the data retrieval company, Quick Law. He was involved in the management of the head office employees and shareholder meetings. At the end of the 1980s he began a full- time riding career, which spanned 15 years. Bruce competed internationally in the sport of 3-Day Eventing at 2 Olympics, 2 World Championships and 2 Pan-American Games. During his riding career he bought and sold horses; taught equitation at clinics throughout Canada and the USA; and managed equestrian facilities. He began teaching at Otterbein in 2005. Equine Liability Acts (also known as Equine Activity Liability Acts, EALA) have been enacted to curb frivolous litigation, discussed under Purpose of ELA. 2 Julie I. Fershtman, Animal Law: The Michigan Equine Activity Liability Act: Are We Galloping in Circles? 92 Mich. B.J. 22, 22 n.4 (2013) (As of July 2013, all states except California, Maryland, Nevada, and New York have enacted some form of an equine activity liability statute. All of them differ but many share common characteristics.)