By Hirschi H.B. No. 560
75R2888 MLS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to limiting the liability of certain persons for bovine
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 90 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 90. LIABILITY FOR BOVINE ACTIVITIES
1-8 Sec. 90.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Bovine activity" means:
1-10 (A) a bovine animal show, fair, competition,
1-11 performance, or parade that involves any breed of bovine animal and
1-12 any bovine discipline, including rodeos, buckouts, jackpots, and
1-13 riding for practice;
1-14 (B) a bull riding school;
1-15 (C) boarding bovine animals;
1-16 (D) riding, inspecting, or evaluating a bovine
1-17 animal belonging to another, without regard to whether the owner
1-18 receives monetary consideration or other thing of value for the use
1-19 of the bovine animal or permits a prospective purchaser of the
1-20 bovine animal to ride, inspect, or evaluate the bovine animal; or
1-21 (E) rodeos and single event competitions,
1-22 including team roping, steer wrestling, calf roping, single steer
1-23 roping, buckouts, jackpots, and riding for practice, without regard
1-24 to whether the participant is compensated.
2-1 (2) "Bovine activity sponsor" means:
2-2 (A) a person or group that sponsors, promotes,
2-3 organizes, or provides the facilities for a bovine activity,
2-4 including bovine facilities for a 4-H club, junior or adult
2-5 livestock show, county or state livestock show or fair, or high
2-6 school or college class, program, or activity, without regard to
2-7 whether the person operates for profit; or
2-8 (B) a person or group that operates or instructs
2-9 at a facility used for a bovine activity, including a livestock
2-10 show, fair, or arena.
2-11 (3) "Bovine animal" means a bull, cow, steer, or calf.
2-12 (4) "Bovine owner" means a person who owns a bovine
2-13 animal and:
2-14 (A) uses the bovine animal for practice riding,
2-15 riding school, competitive riding, or riding to inspect or evaluate
2-16 the bovine animal; or
2-17 (B) rents or loans a bovine animal to a rodeo
2-18 producer or stock contractor for the purpose of competitive riding.
2-19 (5) "Engages in a bovine activity" means riding,
2-20 handling, training, hauling, assisting in the medical treatment of,
2-21 or assisting a participant or sponsor with a bovine animal. The
2-22 term includes management of a show involving bovine animals. The
2-23 term does not include being a spectator at a bovine activity unless
2-24 the spectator is in an unauthorized area and in immediate proximity
2-25 to the bovine activity.
2-26 (6) "Participant" means a person who engages in a
2-27 bovine activity, without regard to whether the person is an amateur
3-1 or professional or whether the person pays an entry fee for the
3-2 activity or participates in the activity for free.
3-3 Sec. 90.002. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. Except as provided by
3-4 Section 90.003, any person, including a bovine activity sponsor or
3-5 a bovine owner, is immune from suit and not liable for property
3-6 damage or damages arising from the personal injury or death of a
3-7 participant if the property damage, injury, or death results from
3-8 the dangers or conditions that are an inherent risk of bovine
3-9 activity, including:
3-10 (1) the propensity of a bovine animal to behave in
3-11 ways that may result in personal injury or death to a person;
3-12 (2) the unpredictability of a bovine animal's reaction
3-13 to a sound, a sudden movement, or an unfamiliar object, person, or
3-14 other animal;
3-15 (3) certain land conditions and hazards;
3-16 (4) a collision with another animal or an object; or
3-17 (5) the potential of a participant to act in a
3-18 negligent manner that may injure the participant or another person,
3-19 including the failure to act within the participant's ability.
3-20 Sec. 90.003. EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. A
3-21 person, including a bovine activity sponsor or a bovine owner, is
3-22 liable for property damage or damages arising from the personal
3-23 injury or death caused by a participant in a bovine activity if:
3-24 (1) the injury or death was caused by faulty equipment
3-25 or tack used in the bovine activity, the person provided the
3-26 equipment or tack, and the person knew or should have known that
3-27 the equipment or tack was faulty;
4-1 (2) the person provided the bovine animal and the
4-2 person did not make a reasonable and prudent effort to determine
4-3 the ability of the participant to engage safely in the bovine
4-4 activity, taking into account the participant's representations of
4-5 ability;
4-6 (3) the injury or death was caused by a dangerous
4-7 latent condition of land for which warning signs or written notices
4-8 were not conspicuously posted and the land was owned, leased, or
4-9 otherwise under the control of the person at the time of the
4-10 property damage, injury, or death and the person knew of the
4-11 dangerous latent condition;
4-12 (4) the person committed an act or omission with
4-13 wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant and
4-14 that act or omission caused the property damage, injury, or death;
4-15 or
4-16 (5) the person intentionally caused the property
4-17 damage, injury, or death.
4-18 Sec. 90.004. WARNING NOTICE. (a) A bovine owner or bovine
4-19 activity sponsor who manages or controls a stable, corral, or arena
4-20 where the owner or sponsor conducts a bovine activity shall post
4-21 and maintain a clearly visible sign that contains the warning
4-22 described in Subsection (c). The bovine owner or bovine activity
4-23 sponsor must post the sign in a location on or near the stable,
4-24 corral, or arena.
4-25 (b) A bovine owner or bovine activity sponsor shall include
4-26 the warning described in Subsection (c) in every written contract
4-27 that the owner or sponsor enters into with a participant for
5-1 professional services, instruction, or the rental or loan of a
5-2 bovine animal. The warning must be legible and included without
5-3 regard to whether the contract involves bovine activities on or off
5-4 the location of the business of the bovine owner or bovine activity
5-5 sponsor.
5-6 (c) The warning must be as follows:
5-7 WARNING
5-8 UNDER TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 90, CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE), A
5-9 BOVINE OWNER OR BOVINE ACTIVITY SPONSOR IS NOT LIABLE FOR PROPERTY
5-10 DAMAGE, AN INJURY, OR THE DEATH OF A PARTICIPANT IN BOVINE
5-11 ACTIVITIES RESULTING FROM THE INHERENT RISKS OF BOVINE ACTIVITIES.
5-12 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
5-13 applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
5-14 date. A cause of action that accrues before the effective date of
5-15 this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the action
5-16 accrued, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
5-17 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.