OHIO 1996 SESSION LAW SERVICE
121st GENERAL ASSEMBLY
H.B. No. 564
CIVIL PROCEDURE--IMMUNITY--EQUINE ACTIVITIES
AN ACT To enact section 2305.321 of the Revised Code relative
to qualified immunities from civil liability for equine activity sponsors,
participants, professionals, and other persons in connection with harm sustained
by equine activity participants from inherent risks of an equine activity.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
Section 1. That section 2305.321 of the Revised Code be
enacted to read as follows:
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey,
hinny, zebra, zebra hybrid, or alpaca.
(2)(a) "Equine activity" means any of the following
:
(i) An equine show, fair, competition, performance, or parade
that involves an equine and an equine discipline, including, but not limited to,
dressage, a hunter and jumper show, grand prix jumping, a three-day event,
combined training, a rodeo, driving, pulling, cutting, reining, team penning,
barrel racing, polo, steeplechasing, English or western performance riding,
endurance or nonendurance trail riding, western games, hunting, packing, and
recreational riding;
(ii) An equine or rider training, teaching, instructing,
testing, or evaluating activity, including, but not limited to, a clinic,
seminar, or symposium;
(iii) The boarding of an equine, including, but not limited
to, normal daily care of an equine;
(iv) The trailering, loading, unloading, or transporting of an
equine;
(v) The riding, inspecting, or evaluating of an equine owned
by another person, regardless of whether the owner has received anything of
value for the use of the equine or is permitting a prospective purchaser of the
equine to ride, inspect, or evaluate it;
(vi) A ride, trip, hunt, branding, roundup, cattle drive, or
other activity that involves an equine and that is sponsored by an equine
activity sponsor, regardless of whether the activity is formal, informal,
planned, or impromptu;
(vii) The placing or replacing of horseshoes on an equine, the
removing of horseshoes from an equine, or the trimming of the hooves of an
equine;
(viii) The provision of or assistance in the provision of
veterinary treatment or maintenance care for an equine;
(ix) The conducting of procedures or assistance in the
conducting of procedures necessary to breed an equine by means of artificial
insemination or otherwise.
(b) "Equine activity" does not include horse or mule
racing.
(3) "Equine activity participant" means a person who
engages in any of the following activities, regardless of whether the person is
an amateur or a professional or whether a fee is paid to participate in the
particular activity:
(a) Riding, training, driving, or controlling in any manner an
equine, whether the equine is mounted or unmounted;
(b) Being a passenger upon an equine;
(c) Providing medical treatment to an equine;
(d) Conducting procedures of [SIC] assisting in conducting
procedures necessary to breed an equine by means of artificial insemination or
otherwise;
(e) Assisting a person who is engaged in an activity described
in division (A)(3)(a), (b), (c), or (d) of this section;
(f)Sponsoring an equine activity;
(g) Being a spectator at an equine activity.
(4) "Equine activity sponsor" means either of the
following persons:
(a) A person who, for profit or not for profit, sponsors,
organizes, or provides a facility for an equine activity, including, but not
limited to, a pony club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding club, or therapeutic riding
program, or a class, program, or activity that is sponsored by a school,
college, or university;
(b) An operator or promoter of, or an instructor at, an equine
facility, such as a stable, clubhouse, pony ride, fair, training facility, show
ground, or arena at which an equine activity is held.
(5)"Equine professional" means a person who engages
for compensation in any of the following activities:
(a) Training, teaching, instructing, testing, or evaluating an
equine or an equine activity participant;
(b) Renting to an equine activity participant an equine for
the purpose of riding, driving, or being a passenger upon an equine;
(c) Renting equipment or tack to an equine activity
participant for use in an equine activity;
(d) Providing daily care to an equine boarded at an equine
activity;
(e) Providing or assisting in providing veterinary treatment
or maintenance care to an equine;
(f)Conducting procedures or assisting in conducting procedures
necessary to breed an equine by means of artificial insemination or otherwise.
(6) "Harm" means injury, death, or loss to person or
property.
(7) "Inherent risk of an equine activity" means a
danger or condition that is an integral part of an equine activity, including,
but not limited to, any of the following:
(a) The propensity of an equine to behave in ways that may
result in injury, death, or loss to persons on or around the equine;
(b) The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to sounds,
sudden movement, unfamiliar objects, persons, or other animals;
(c) Hazards, including, but not limited to, surface or
subsurface conditions;
(d) A collision with another equine, another animal, a person,
or an object;
(e) The potential of an equine activity participant to act in
a negligent manner that may contribute to injury, death, or loss to the person
of the participant or to other persons, including, but not limited to, failing
to maintain control over an equine or failing to act within the ability of the
participant.
(8) "Person" has the same meaning as in section 1.59
of the Revised Code and additionally includes governmental entities.
(9) "Tort action" means a civil action for damages
for injury, death, or loss to person or property. "Tort action" does
not include a civil action for damages for a breach of contract or another
agreement between persons.
(10) "Veterinarian" means a person who is licensed
to practice veterinary medicine in this state pursuant to Chapter 4741. of the
Revised Code.
(B)(1) Except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section
and subject to division (C) of this section, an equine activity sponsor, equine
activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other
person is not liable in damages in a tort or other civil action for harm that an
equine activity participant allegedly sustains during an equine activity and
that results from an inherent risk of an equine activity. Except as provided in
division (B)(2) of this section and subject to division (C) of this section, an
equine activity participant or the personal representative of an equine activity
participant does not have a claim or cause of action upon which a recovery of
damages may be based against, and may not recover damages in a tort or other
civil action against, an equine activity sponsor, another equine activity
participant, an equine professional, a veterinarian, a farrier, or another
person for harm that the equine activity participant allegedly sustained during
an equine activity and that resulted from an inherent risk of an equine
activity.
(2)The immunity from tort or other civil liability conferred
by division (B)(1) of this section is forfeited if any of the following
circumstances applies:
(a) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant,
equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person provides to an
equine activity participant faulty or defective equipment or tack and knows or
should know that the equipment or tack is faulty or defective, and the fault or
defect in the equipment or tack proximately causes the harm involved.
(b) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant,
equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person provides an equine
to an equine activity participant and fails to make reasonable and prudent
efforts to determine the equine activity participant's ability to safely engage
in the equine activity or to safely manage the equine based on the equine
activity participant's representations of the participant's ability, the equine
activity participant fails to safely engage in the equine activity or to safely
manage the equine, and that failure proximately causes the harm involved.
(c) The harm involved is proximately caused by a dangerous
latent condition of the land on which or the premises at which the harm occurs,
an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional,
veterinarian, farrier, or other person owns, leases, rents, or otherwise
lawfully possesses and controls the land or premises and knows or should know of
the dangerous latent condition, but does not post conspicuously prior to the
time of the harm involved one or more signs that warn of the dangerous latent
condition.
(d) An act or omission of an equine activity sponsor, equine
activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other
person constitutes a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of an equine
activity participant and proximately causes the harm involved.
(e) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant,
equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person intentionally causes
the harm involved.
(C)(1)Notwithstanding the immunity conferred by division
(B)(1) of this section and the grounds for its forfeiture specified in division
(B)(2) of this section, subject to divisions (C)(2) (b) and (3) of this section,
an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional,
veterinarian, farrier, or other person is not liable in damages in a tort or
other civil action for harm that an equine activity participant allegedly
sustains during an equine activity and that results from an inherent risk of an
equine activity if that equine activity participant or a parent, guardian,
custodian, or other legal representative of that equine activity participant
voluntarily executes, prior to the occurrence of the harm involved, a written
waiver as described in division (C)(2) of this section. Subject to divisions
(C)(2) (b) and (C)(3) of this section, the equine activity participant who is
the subject of that waiver or the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal
representative of the equine activity participant who is the subject of that
waiver does not have a claim or cause of action upon which a recovery of damages
may be based against, and may not recover damages in a tort or other civil
action against, an equine activity sponsor, another equine activity participant,
an equine professional, a veterinarian, a farrier, or another person in whose
favor the waiver was executed.
(2)(a) A valid waiver for purposes of division (C)(1) of this
section shall be in writing and subscribed by the equine activity participant or
the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the equine
activity participant, and shall specify at least each inherent risk of an equine
activity that is listed in divisions (A)(7) (a) to (e) of this section and that
will be a subject of the waiver of tort or other civil liability.
(b) A waiver in the form described in division (C)(2) (a) of
this section shall remain valid until it is revoked in the manner described in
division (C)(3) of this section. Unless so revoked, such a waiver that pertains
to equine activities sponsored by a school, college, or university shall apply
to all equine activities in which the equine activity participant who is the
subject of the waiver is involved during the twelve-month period following the
execution of the waiver.
(3)A valid waiver in the form described in division (C)(2) (a)
of this section may be revoked in writing by the equine activity participant or
the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the equine
activity participant who executed the waiver. The revocation of the waiver does
not affect the availability of the immunity conferred by division (B)(1) of this
section.
(D)(1)This section does not create a new cause of action or
substantive legal right against an equine activity sponsor, equine activity
participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person.
(2)This section does not affect the availability in
appropriate circumstances of a civil action based on a product liability claim
under sections 2307.71 to 2307.801 of the Revised Code.
Section 2305.321 of the Revised Code, as enacted by this act,
shall apply only to harm that an equine activity participant sustains as a
proximate result of an inherent risk of an equine activity that occurs on or
after the effective date of this act. The tort or other civil liability of, and
the defenses available to and any immunities from liability of, an equine
activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional,
veterinarian, farrier, or other person for harm that an equine activity
participant sustained as a proximate result of an inherent risk of an equine
activity that occurred prior to the effective date of this act shall be
determined as if section 2305.40 of the Revised Code had not been enacted by
this act.
Date Passed: November 13, 1996
Approved December 2, 1996
Act Eff. March 3, 1997
|