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  Discussion on No health insurance
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Member:
kiwi1

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 10:08 am:

A girl at the barn that I board at is helping me sell and ride my horse. I pay her a flat fee for every ride. The other day, my horse spooked and she fell off. As a result, she had medical bills but she does not have health insurance. She is now looking to me to pay the bills. What sort of liability would I have in this situation? Since she it taking money from me, would she be considered a professional and be treated as such?
Member:
canter

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 10:26 am:

Grover, I think liability varies widely from state to state so it's probably best to speak to a lawyer for appropriate advice. That said, does your barn have signs posted that say something like "Riding is a risky sport, all riders assume the risk..."? A good lawyer will take that into consideration, as well as the circumstances surounding the accident...is your horse known to be spooky, how long has she been working with the horse, if so, had she been warned, did you have any sort of written or verbal agreement...etc, etc.

Depending upon the extent of her medical bills, it may be cheaper (and easier) to offer to pay 1/2 vs. consulting a lawyer...but if you do that, I would recommend you have her sign something that says you are not liable for any further expenses.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 8:14 am:

Variability in local laws will make local counsel necessary but agree with your assessment grover.
DrO
Member:
lvmyhors

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 2:03 pm:

It's a shame that in this day and age we have to be so worried about getting sued!!But I have a sign posted at my barn that releases us, the property owners from any and all liabilty by those who are on the property. Dr.O is right, each state has it's own rules and I picked up our sign from the website horse.com, where they sell them for under $20.00 for each specific state.
Member:
mitch316

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 6:18 pm:

Grover, while state and local laws vary, what you should be on the lookout here is the lawyers arguing that you had workers and were not paying into the workers comp program. Speaking from expierience, this is a complicated area, and even the professionals have a hard time knowing the system. Basically, if your state considers her services to be provided as an independent contractor, then there is no liability on your part unless you caused (directly) the injury, or by negligience did not do enough to prevent it. If however your state sees her as an employee, you will have to use the govt. formula based on your income and how many employees you have working for you. For details on this, and for a good source of info for your whole situation, look up the Department of Labor on google and click on the workers comp/insurance links. They also have outside and state links as well. I think the site is www.dol.gov, but I could be wrong. It would probably be a good idea for all of us agriculture based businesses (and horse owners are considered farmers if you have over a certain number of stock varied by state), because under the socialist leaning farm bills in the works, we are about to be Obamaized and get taken to the wood shed.
Member:
stumc861

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 6:22 pm:

One other issue might arise if the rider is a minor--under 18 years of age in California; might be older in other states. A waiver by a minor is of very little protection. Depending on the extent of the injuries, you might in fact do best financially to offer to share expenses.
Member:
erika

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 9:14 pm:

I once hired a woman to haul a foal to another barn. The foal jumped out while she was closing the trailer, knocking the woman down and hurting her shoulder. I paid her doctor bill, but fortunately she wasn't badly hurt. Not sure how I would have handled a huge medical bill.

I believe that NJ has laws protecting owners from liability to some extent. I imagine its different everywhere though.
Erika
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