Premises liability laws enable you to recover damages through a personal injury lawsuit or insurance claim if you get injured in a preventable accident at a place of business because it is the business owner’s responsibility to protect customers from dangerous conditions. Therefore, the doctrine of premises liability protects customers at a restaurant, regardless of whether the proximate cause of the injury was a slippery floor, a falling ceiling fan, contaminated food, or anything else; the restaurant building and all of its contents are the responsibility of the restaurant owner. Of course, it is not quite as simple as it sounds. At recreational facilities, you often see signs that say “X at your own risk,” with X being the name of the recreational activity in which you are about to engage. In that case, you must work harder to prove that the accident arose from egregious negligence on the part of the premises owner and not from the risks inherent in the recreational activity. Horseback riding is one such risky activity where premises owners only sometimes bear responsibility for accidental injuries. To find out more about your rights after an equestrian accident, contact a Santa Fe personal injury lawyer.
The Horse Has a Mind of its Own
Most of the time, the owner of a piece of equipment is responsible for injuries caused by that piece of equipment; the owner of a car that causes an accident can be held liable for the accident, even if someone else was driving at the time. Horses are not equipment, though; they are sentient animals. They can weigh over 1,000 pounds and are easily frightened or annoyed. Therefore, it stands to reason that there are plenty of scenarios where a horseback rider can get injured that are not due to the negligence of any individual or corporate entity.
The New Mexico Equine Liability Act states that no individual or business shall be held liable for injury caused by a horse to a horseback rider unless the injured rider can prove that the horse only behaved the way it did because of the negligence of the party the injured rider is suing. In other words, the laws offer a lot of protection to the owners of horses, stables, trail ride operators, riding instructors, and venues where equestrian events take place. Every case is unique, though. It is always worthwhile to discuss the situation with a personal injury lawyer and find out more about the legal remedies available to you if you get injured in a horseback riding accident or if a domestic horse bites you.
Contact Slate Stern About Horseback Riding Accident Lawsuits
Even though it is not as easy to collect damages after an equestrian accident as it is after a slip and fall accident at a business, the accident still might be a case of negligence. Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in equestrian accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.animallaw.info/statute/nm-equine-activity-liability-article-13-equine-liability