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.
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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