Common Equine Industry Legal Disputes & Ideas For Avoiding Them

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506 – September/October, 2024

By Julie I. Fershtman, Attorney at Law · www.equinelaw.net

As a lawyer with almost four decades of experience, and with Equine Law being one of my areas of practice, I’ve received thousands of calls and emails from people in the horse industry with legal disputes. Unfortunately, very few are prepared for the effort, expense, and inconvenience that legal disputes typically involve.  People in the equine industry can benefit by avoiding disputes before they happen.  This article addresses the most common legal matters I’ve encountered from prospective clients, along with ideas for avoiding them.

1. No More Verbal Contracts

By far, the most common inquiry I’ve received involves verbal contract disputes. People have bought or sold horses, leased horses, boarded horses, bred or trained horses with absolutely no written agreement between them.  Problems have occurred when someone was not paid, services were not provided (or were provided in a less-than desirable way), a horse did not measure up to the seller’s verbal promises, or a horse was leased through a verbal arrangement and not returned. While text messages, instant messages, and emails can show part of the parties’ understanding, they’re never enough with verbal contract disputes as the parties almost always disagree on other terms.

Resolving verbal contract disputes through a lawsuit is never easy, quick, or cheap. By comparison, a well-written contract can avoid legal disputes or it can narrow the disputes considerably. That results in an overall cost savings and more than justifies the up-front legal expense for the contract.

2. Home-Made Waivers Can Be Trouble

Click here to read the complete article
506 – September/October, 2024