Do Your Equine Contracts Really Protect You?
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326 – May/June, 2023
By Julie I. Fershtman, Attorney at Law · www.equinelaw.net
Equine contracts can be good news or bad news. The good news is that the contracts used in your equine activities–such as waiver/release documents, training contracts, boarding contracts, leases, and sale contracts–can potentially prevent legal disputes from occurring. The bad news is that your contracts might not protect you as well as you expect. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a legal dispute to discover the shortcomings of your contracts. Careful advance planning, however, can improve your chances of success.
This article discusses some legal disputes people have encountered with their equine industry contracts, with the goal of helping you avoid them.
Waiver/Release Documents
Problems
Years ago, I defended a trail riding stable in a lawsuit brought by an injured customer. Before each ride, the stable required everyone to sign its waiver. The problem was, despite the word “waiver” in the document’s title, the document was not a waiver because it failed to include the most fundamental language where the signer would agree not to sue (lawyers call this “exculpatory language,” and states can differ as to how it should be worded). The stable’s waiver proved to be unenforceable, and we proceeded to a one-week jury trial. Though we ultimately won the trial, the case might not have been brought at all if the stable’s waiver included proper exculpatory language.
Another suit I worked on involved an accident during a riding lesson.A woman fell from a school horse, requiring surgeries and rehabilitation. She sued the stable. The problem was, the release she signed years ago only specified that she was signing in her capacity as parent for her son, the riding student at the time. Nowhere did the document state that she was signing for herself, individually, and releasing the stable.
Solution
Click here to read the complete article
326 – May/June, 2023
