Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2013 | Page 142

Legal Issues with Roach Pittis Solicitors By Chris Prew Animals Act – taking the common sense approach Accidents involving horses can lead to occasional serious injury. Where somebody is injured by a horse belonging to or being kept by another, they may make a claim against the horse’s owner in negligence, but they can also claim the owner or keeper is strictly liable under the Animals Act 1971. Recent decisions at the Court of Appeal in which claims brought under the 1971 Act have been dismissed demonstrate that the Courts are perhaps increasingly adopting a more common sense approach to these claims. For a horse owner to be liable under the Animals Act either for damage to people or to property, it would have to be found that: a) Their horse was, unless restrained, likely to cause damage or, if the horse causes damage, it was likely to be severe. b) That the damage would be caused by a character either not usually found in horses or only found in a horse at particular times and in particular circumstances. This is a test laid down by Section 2(2) of the 1971 Act and it has been notoriously difficult for the Courts to apply. On April 3, 2012 the Court of Appeal gave judgement in the case of Turnbull v Warrener. In dismissing the claim, the Court found that horses were inherently unpredictable in their behaviour and when and what a horse was capable of is a matter for the rider’s judgement and that, in this case, the rider had voluntarily assumed the risk. 142 www.visitislandlife.com I am sure many horse owners will welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision as displaying a common sense approach to injury claims involving horses. This decision follows that in Goldsmith v Patchcroft earlier in the year in which the Court again dismissed a claim under the 1971 Act. In that case, the Court found the Claimant had voluntarily assumed the risk that a horse that was known to buck would do so in a particularly violent way. It did not matter that the claimant was unaware that the horse could buck very violently: bucking was a risk she was aware of and accepted. Roach Pittis Solicitors 62-66 Lugley Street, Newport PO30 5EU 01983 524431 Email: [email protected] www.roachpittis.co.uk