RS 2795.3 - Limitation of liability of equine activity sponsor; exceptions; required warning
A. As used in this Section, the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Engages in an equine activity" means riding, training, racing, driving, providing farrier services, providing or assisting in providing medical treatment of, or being a passenger upon an equine, whether mounted or unmounted, or any person assisting a participant or show management. The term "engages in an equine activity" does not include being a spectator at an equine activity, except in cases where the spectator places himself in an unauthorized area and in immediate proximity to the equine activity.
(2) "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny.
(3) "Equine activity" includes any or all of the following:
(a) An equine show, auction, fair, race, competition, performance, parade, or carriage ride that involves any or all breeds of equine and any of the equine disciplines, including but not limited to any dressage, hunter and jumper horse show, grand prix jumping, three-day event, combined training, rodeo, driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, English and western performance riding, endurance trail riding and western game, racing, and hunting.
(b) Equine training or teaching activities, or both.
(c) Boarding equine.
(d) Riding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine belonging to another, whether or not the owner has received some monetary consideration or other thing of value for the use of the equine or is permitting a prospective purchaser of the equine to ride, inspect, or evaluate the equine.
(e) A ride, trip, hunt, or other equine activity of any type however informal or impromptu that are sponsored by an equine activity sponsor.
(f) Providing veterinarian or farrier services.
(4) "Equine activity sponsor" means an individual, group, club, partnership, corporation, or other entity, whether or not the sponsor is operating for profit or nonprofit, which sponsors, organizes, or provides the facilities for an equine activity, including but not limited to a pony club; 4-H club; hunt club; riding club; licensed racetrack; licensed training centers; school and college sponsored class, program, and activity; therapeutic riding program; and any operator, instructor, and promoter of an equine facility, including but not limited to a stable, clubhouse, ponyride string, fair, farm, ranch, and arena at which the activity is held.
(5) "Equine professional" means a person engaged for compensation in any of the following:
(a) Instructing a participant or renting to a participant an equine for the purpose of riding, driving, or being a passenger upon the equine.
(b) Renting equipment or tack to a participant.
(c) Providing veterinarian or farrier services.
(6) "Inherent risks of equine activities" means those dangers or conditions which are an integral part of equine activities, including but not limited to:
(a) The propensity of an equine to behave in ways that may result in injury, harm, or death to persons on or around them.
(b) The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to such things as sounds, sudden movement, and unfamiliar objects, persons, or other animals.
(c) Certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions.
(d) Collisions with other equine or objects.
(e) The potential of a participant to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to injury to the participant or others, such as failing to maintain control over the animal or not acting within his ability.
(7) "Participant" means any person, whether amateur or professional, who engages in an equine activity, whether or not a fee is paid to participate in the equine activity, and any equine stabled, training, or running on the racetrack or at a licensed training center and any jockey, exercise person, trainer, owner or employee, agent, or independent contractor of each.
B. Except as provided in Subsection C of this Section, an equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person, which shall include a corporation or partnership, shall not be liable for an injury to or the death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities and, except as provided in Subsection C of this Section, no participant or participant's representative shall make any claim against, maintain an action against, or recover from an equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person for injury, loss, damage, or death of the participant resulting from any of the inherent risks of equine activities.
C. Nothing in Subsection B of this Section shall prevent or limit the liability of an equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person if the equine activity sponsor, equine professional, or person either:
(1) Provided the equipment or tack, and knew or should have known that the equipment or tack was faulty, and such equipment or tack was faulty to the extent that it did cause the injury.
(2) Failed to make reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in the equine activity and to safely manage the particular equine based on the participant's representations of his ability.
(3) Owned, leased, rented, or otherwise was in lawful possession and control of the land or facility upon which the participant sustained injuries because of a dangerous latent condition which was known or should have been known to the equine activity sponsor, equine professional, or person and for which warning signs have not been conspicuously posted.
(4) Committed an act or omission that constitutes willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant, and that act or omission caused the injury.
(5) Intentionally injured the participant.
D. Nothing in Subsection B of this Section shall prevent or limit the liability of an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional under liability provisions as set forth in the Louisiana Products Liability Act, R.S. 9:2800.51 through 2800.59.
E. Every equine professional and every equine activity sponsor shall post and maintain signs which contain the warning notice specified in Subsection F of this Section. Such signs shall be placed in a clearly visible location on or near any stable, corral, or arena where the equine professional or the equine activity sponsor conducts equine activities. The warning notice specified in Subsection F of this Section shall appear on each sign in black letters, with each letter to be a minimum of one inch in height. Every written contract entered into by an equine professional or by an equine activity sponsor for the providing of professional services, instruction, or the rental of equipment or tack or an equine to a participant, whether or not the contract involves equine activities on or off the location or site of the equine professional's or the equine activity sponsor's business, shall contain in clearly readable print the warning notice specified in Subsection F of this Section.
F. The signs and contracts described in Subsection E of this Section shall contain the following warning notice:
WARNING
Under Louisiana law, an equine activity sponsor or equine professional is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant in equine activities resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities, pursuant to R.S. 9:2795.3.
G. Failure to comply with the requirements concerning warning notices provided in this Section shall prevent an equine activity sponsor or equine professional from invoking the privilege of immunity provided by this Section.
Acts 2003, No. 898, §1; Acts 2006, No. 136, §1.