87R2609 AJA-D

By: Landgraf H.B. No. 1078

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to liability arising from farm animal activities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 87.001(1), (3), and (9), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:

(1) "Engages in a farm animal activity" means riding, handling, training, driving, loading, unloading, assisting in the medical treatment of, being a passenger on, or assisting a participant or sponsor with a farm animal. The term includes breeding, feeding, or working farm animals as a vocation. The term includes management of a show involving farm animals. The term does not include being a spectator at a farm animal activity unless the spectator is in an unauthorized area and in immediate proximity to the farm animal activity.

(3) "Farm animal activity" means:

(A) a farm animal show, fair, competition, performance, rodeo, event, or parade that involves any farm animal;

(B) training or teaching activities involving a farm animal;

(C) boarding a farm animal, including daily care;

(D) riding, inspecting, evaluating, handling, loading, or unloading a farm animal belonging to another, without regard to whether the owner receives monetary consideration or other thing of value for the use of the farm animal or permits a prospective purchaser of the farm animal to ride, inspect, evaluate, handle, load, or unload the farm animal;

(E) informal farm animal activity, including a ride, trip, or hunt that is sponsored by a farm animal activity sponsor;

(F) placing or replacing horseshoes on an equine animal;

(G) examining or administering medical treatment to a farm animal by a veterinarian; [or]

(H) without regard to whether the participants are compensated, rodeos and single event competitions, including team roping, calf roping, and single steer roping; or

(I) breeding, feeding, or working farm animals as a vocation.

(9) "Participant" means:

(A) with respect to a farm animal activity, a person who engages in the activity, without regard to whether the person:

(i) is an amateur or professional;

(ii) engages in the activity within the scope of the person's employment as a farm or ranch employee or engagement as an independent contractor by a farm or ranch owner or operator; or

(iii) [whether the person] pays for the activity or participates in the activity for free; and

(B) with respect to a livestock show, a person who registers for and is allowed by a livestock show sponsor to compete in a livestock show by showing an animal on a competitive basis, or a person who assists that person.

SECTION 2. Section 87.003, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 87.003. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. Except as provided by Section 87.004, any person, including a farm animal activity sponsor, farm animal professional, farm or ranch owner or operator, livestock producer, livestock show participant, or livestock show sponsor, is not liable for property damage or damages arising from the personal injury or death of a participant in a farm animal activity or livestock show if the property damage, injury, or death results from the dangers or conditions that are an inherent risk of a farm animal activity or the showing of an animal on a competitive basis in a livestock show, including:

(1) the propensity of a farm animal or livestock animal to behave in ways that may result in personal injury or death to a person on or around it;

(2) the unpredictability of a farm animal's or livestock animal's reaction to sound, a sudden movement, or an unfamiliar object, person, or other animal;

(3) with respect to farm animal activities involving equine animals, certain land conditions and hazards, including surface and subsurface conditions;

(4) a collision with another animal or an object; or

(5) the potential of a participant to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to injury to the participant or another, including failing to maintain control over a farm animal or livestock animal or not acting within the participant's ability.

SECTION 3. Section 87.004, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 87.004. EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. A person, including a farm animal activity sponsor, farm animal professional, farm or ranch owner or operator, livestock show participant, or livestock show sponsor, is liable for property damage or damages arising from the personal injury or death caused by a participant in a farm animal activity or livestock show if:

(1) the injury or death was caused by faulty equipment or tack used in the farm animal activity or livestock show, the person provided the equipment or tack, and the person knew or should have known that the equipment or tack was faulty;

(2) the person provided the farm animal or livestock animal and the person did not make a reasonable and prudent effort to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in the farm animal activity or livestock show and determine the ability of the participant to safely manage the farm animal or livestock animal, taking into account the participant's representations of ability;

(3) the injury or death was caused by a dangerous latent condition of land for which warning signs, written notices, or verbal warnings were not conspicuously posted or provided to the participant, and the land was owned, leased, or otherwise under the control of the person at the time of the injury or death and the person knew of the dangerous latent condition;

(4) the person committed an act or omission with wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant and that act or omission caused the injury;

(5) the person intentionally caused the property damage, injury, or death; or

(6) with respect to a livestock show, the injury or death occurred as a result of an activity connected with the livestock show and the person invited or otherwise allowed the injured or deceased person to participate in the activity and the injured or deceased person was not a participant as defined by Section 87.001(9)(B).

SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of this Act. A cause of action that accrued before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.