H.B. No. 280
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to limiting the liability of certain persons for equine
1-3 activities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Chapter 87 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 87. LIABILITY FOR EQUINE ACTIVITIES
1-8 Sec. 87.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Engages in an equine activity" means riding,
1-10 handling, training, driving, assisting in the medical treatment of,
1-11 being a passenger on, or assisting a participant or sponsor with an
1-12 equine animal. The term includes management of a show involving
1-13 equine animals. The term does not include being a spectator at an
1-14 equine activity unless the spectator is in an unauthorized area and
1-15 in immediate proximity to the equine activity.
1-16 (2) "Equine animal" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey,
1-17 or hinny.
1-18 (3) "Equine activity" means:
1-19 (A) an equine animal show, fair, competition,
1-20 performance, or parade that involves any breed of equine animal and
1-21 any equine discipline, including dressage, hunter and jumper horse
1-22 shows, grand prix jumping, three-day events, combined training,
1-23 driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, English and
1-24 Western performance riding, endurance trail riding and Western
2-1 games, and hunting;
2-2 (B) equine training or teaching activities;
2-3 (C) boarding equine animals;
2-4 (D) riding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine
2-5 animal belonging to another, without regard to whether the owner
2-6 receives monetary consideration or other thing of value for the use
2-7 of the equine animal or permits a prospective purchaser of the
2-8 equine animal to ride, inspect, or evaluate the equine animal;
2-9 (E) informal equine activity, including a ride,
2-10 trip, or hunt that is sponsored by an equine activity sponsor;
2-11 (F) placing or replacing horseshoes on an equine
2-12 animal; or
2-13 (G) without regard to whether the participants
2-14 are compensated, rodeos and single event competitions, including
2-15 team roping, calf roping, and single steer roping.
2-16 (4) "Equine activity sponsor" means:
2-17 (A) a person or group who sponsors, organizes,
2-18 or provides the facilities for an equine activity, including equine
2-19 facilities for a pony club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding club,
2-20 therapeutic riding program, or high school or college class,
2-21 program, or activity, without regard to whether the person operates
2-22 for profit; or
2-23 (B) an operator of, instructor at, or promoter
2-24 for equine facilities, including a stable, clubhouse, pony ride
2-25 string, fair, or arena at which an equine activity is held.
2-26 (5) "Equine professional" means a person engaged for
2-27 compensation:
3-1 (A) to instruct a participant or rent to a
3-2 participant an equine animal for the purpose of riding, driving, or
3-3 being a passenger on the equine animal; or
3-4 (B) to rent equipment or tack to a participant.
3-5 (6) "Participant" means a person who engages in an
3-6 equine activity, without regard to whether the person is an amateur
3-7 or professional or whether the person pays for the activity or
3-8 participates in the activity for free.
3-9 Sec. 87.002. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. This chapter does
3-10 not apply to an activity regulated by the Texas Racing Commission.
3-11 Sec. 87.003. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. Except as provided by
3-12 Section 87.004, any person, including an equine activity sponsor or
3-13 an equine professional, is not liable for property damage or
3-14 damages arising from the personal injury or death of a participant
3-15 if the property damage, injury, or death results from the dangers
3-16 or conditions that are an inherent risk of equine activity,
3-17 including:
3-18 (1) the propensity of an equine animal to behave in
3-19 ways that may result in personal injury or death to a person on or
3-20 around it;
3-21 (2) the unpredictability of an equine animal's
3-22 reaction to sound, a sudden movement, or an unfamiliar object,
3-23 person, or other animal;
3-24 (3) certain land conditions and hazards, including
3-25 surface and subsurface conditions;
3-26 (4) a collision with another animal or an object; or
3-27 (5) the potential of a participant to act in a
4-1 negligent manner that may contribute to injury to the participant
4-2 or another, including failing to maintain control over the equine
4-3 animal or not acting within the participant's ability.
4-4 Sec. 87.004. EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. A
4-5 person, including an equine activity sponsor or an equine
4-6 professional, is liable for property damage or damages arising
4-7 from the personal injury or death caused by a participant in an
4-8 equine activity if:
4-9 (1) the injury or death was caused by faulty equipment
4-10 or tack used in the equine activity, the person provided the
4-11 equipment or tack, and the person knew or should have known that
4-12 the equipment or tack was faulty;
4-13 (2) the person provided the equine animal and the
4-14 person did not make a reasonable and prudent effort to determine
4-15 the ability of the participant to engage safely in the equine
4-16 activity and determine the ability of the participant to safely
4-17 manage the equine animal, taking into account the participant's
4-18 representations of ability;
4-19 (3) the injury or death was caused by a dangerous
4-20 latent condition of land for which warning signs, written notices,
4-21 or verbal warnings were not conspicuously posted or provided to the
4-22 participant, and the land was owned, leased, or otherwise under the
4-23 control of the person at the time of the injury or death and the
4-24 person knew of the dangerous latent condition;
4-25 (4) the person committed an act or omission with
4-26 wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant and
4-27 that act or omission caused the injury; or
5-1 (5) the person intentionally caused the injury or
5-2 death.
5-3 Sec. 87.005. WARNING NOTICE. (a) An equine professional
5-4 shall post and maintain a sign that contains the warning contained
5-5 in Subsection (c) if the professional manages or controls a stable,
5-6 corral, or arena where the professional conducts an equine
5-7 activity. The professional must post the sign in a clearly visible
5-8 location on or near the stable, corral, or arena.
5-9 (b) An equine professional shall include the warning
5-10 contained in Subsection (c) in every written contract that the
5-11 professional enters into with a participant for professional
5-12 services, instruction, or the rental of equipment or tack or an
5-13 equine animal. The warning must be included without regard to
5-14 whether the contract involves equine activities on or off the
5-15 location or site of the business of the equine professional. The
5-16 warning must be clearly readable.
5-17 (c) The warning must be as follows:
5-18 WARNING
5-19 UNDER TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 87, CIVIL PRACTICE AND
5-20 REMEDIES CODE), AN EQUINE PROFESSIONAL IS NOT LIABLE
5-21 FOR AN INJURY TO OR THE DEATH OF A PARTICIPANT IN
5-22 EQUINE ACTIVITIES RESULTING FROM THE INHERENT RISKS OF
5-23 EQUINE ACTIVITIES.
5-24 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
5-25 applies only to a cause of action accruing on or after that date.
5-26 A cause of action accruing before the effective date of this Act is
5-27 governed by the law in effect at the time the action accrued, and
6-1 that law is continued for that purpose.
6-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
6-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.