If a horse injures a barn employee is the horse owner responsible for the medical bills?

Question

There was no actual injury but the employee went to the ER and now wants the horse owner to pay for the bills. It was not a horse that normally acts out towards humans but the barn is trying to say because the horse kicks the other horses in the pasture it shows that the horse has an aggressive attitude.

Answer 1

The barn employee was the one handling the horse and accepts the inherent risks involved in handling horses as part of her job. The owner has no liability since there is no negligence on her part. The barn management should carry insurance that covers the help and which would pay on a claim, and if that isn't the case, then they will have to work it out with the employee. Whoever owns the property is typically held liable for injuries sustained on the property, but the equine liability statutes in that state may prevent the employee from bringing a lawsuit. However, if the employee is a minor, then those statutes usually don't waive liability on the part of the barn owner. You would need to consult a local injury liability attorney who knows the local statutes, which can often be done over the phone at no charge.

Answer 2

If it were in the UK then negligence on behalf of the owner would have to be proven before any payout.



In this case I would say that the injured party was to blame because A) they were changing the rug with the horse loose.

B) the other person turning the second horse out was more of the cause than the owner.

C) the barn should have an employees liability insurance.



In my never humble opinion the injured person has learned an important lesson and that is that no horse should be taken for granted and they should have had a halter on the horse which would have given them some control AND when the horse moved off, which it probably did in a rush, they should have jumped clear.



Lesson learned the hard way through being hurt, though if they could drive then they could not have been to badly hurt. The barn owners should pay, not the horse owner.

Answer 3

EDIT: The employee was obviously doing something negligent (stupid) by not having the horse tied and separated from other horses whilst removing the blanket. Unless the barn owner specifically told him/her to remove a blanket under those conditions, thereby placing the employee in harm's way, the employee can't sue-- and should have known better.



If you're such an idiot that you stick your face into a paper shredder in an office, you can't sue your boss either.

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Most states have laws that basically say, since activities with horses (or animals in general) are inherently prone to risk, you can't sue a horse owner or stable owner unless an injury is received that is due to a lack of normal safety precautions or unreasonable risks. So getting randomly hurt by a horse in a freak accident, through no fault of anyone, when the horse has no record of hurting people, usually isn't actionable...



...but there are exceptions. Different states are very loose or very harsh about these laws. Here's a link where cases in each state, related to horse injuries, have been decided:



http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/cases/laws/laws.htm



The other poster is also correct; if the employee wants money, he should be talking to the barn owner, not the horse owner. The barn owner can then maybe go after the horse owner for repayment. The horse owner has no responsibility for the safe working conditions at the barn owner's barn.

Answer 4

That sign is there so the idiot owner who falls off her own horse cannot sue the owner of the stable or the property. The injured party was an "employee" not a "participant" (at least according to Pa law). Who ever paid this person to deal with the horse that injured him must (ethically and, I believe, legally) pay for his medical treatment. Yeah. the ER costs a bundle. That's why the responsible party should have insurance. Stop trying to blame everybody but God and do the right thing!

Answer 5

Ask an attorney about laws in your state or area, but in general in the US the employer is responsible, However, if the barn owner can show negligence on the part of the horse owner, then it may be possible for the barn owner/employer to counter sue the horse owner for compensation. But in this case it appears that someone elses negligence was the cause. Unless of course the horse has ever kicked at anyone else. Then that can be used to show owner fault.

Answer 6

Dependent upon the classification of the employee, there could be several scenarios. If the employer has so many employees, they are required to carry worker's compensation insurance which would cover this. If they are not in that group, they would be required to tell the employee that they do not carry WCI and the employee would be responsible for their own medical insurance coverage in the event of an injury. If the employed person is an Independent Contractor, they would be responsible for their own health insurance coverage. With the equine statute that is posted on every property where horses are boarded, that does not apply to employees, just the general public and owners. So. with general considerations, it would be either a worker's comp coverage (very rare possibility) or the injured person would be responsible for their own health coverage.



If the employee was not following proper guidelines specified by the barn, again, his failure to follow proper guideines led to the injury so again, there are just a lot of variables here to be considered. That said, I can't see that in any case that the owner of the horse would be responsible. Just my take on it with our laws and guidelines in boarding facilities.

Answer 7

anyone dealing with horses is at risk. even the most quiet horses can still spook. I should think that it is the employers job to pay the bill (depending on what type of barn it is i guess, like more professional, and its actually considered a "job" or under the table type of pay) the barn should have insurance for this type of thing, you might check the contract you signed (if you signed one) and see if there is anything about it in there, or ask to see a contract that an employee would sign (if they have one) and see what that says, i honestly believe, just like any other business, if an employee gets hurt at the work place, it is the employers responsibility to pay the medical bills.

Answer 8

I would advise contacting an attorney for advice at the very least, to see what the laws are in your area.



However I would imagine than the responsibility of the medical bills would actually fall on the employer, not the employee or the customer, who would be you the horse owner. Once again, this is just a guess. Also based upon what happened to my friend, she works at a dog-boarding place and was rather viciously attacked by a pit-bull, the responsibility fell upon her employer. Not the owner of the dog, because it happened at the workplace while she was doing... ya know, what she was employed to do. Care for the dogs.

Answer 9

Since the injury happened on the job this should be covered by workman's comp. If this worker is off the books, getting paid under the table then it's going to probably turn into a big old mess. Should the barn owner's property/homeowner's pay for it? Should the worker pay their own medical bills? Dunno. Probably up to the lawyers to decide.



It's not the horse owner's fault if the barn owner isn't paying into workman's comp on his/her employees. Getting injured comes with the territory when working with horses as a groom or in any other capacity. Since this barn is operating as a business by taking money in exchange for services (i.e. boarding horses) and hiring employees to fulfill duties associated with the business then they should be taking the appropriate precautions and providing the necessary insurance for their employees, at bare minimum paying into workman's comp.



It's shame on the barn if they don't provide workman's comp for employees. It's shame on the worker for not making sure they were covered by workman's comp if they took this job under the table. Nothing about this should fall on the horse owner, it's not that person's fault if the barn isn't running its business properly.



This type of situation is exactly why responsible people get all up in arms about insurance, liability, business licenses, ethical business practices etc. Now these fools that didn't take care of their business in a professional manner are going to be causing this poor horse owner all kinds of grief. I hope the horse owner tells them all to hop off a cliff and hires him/herself a very good lawyer.

Answer 10

While I think the actions of the employee were extremely negligent I would consider contacting an attorney. In the past I have had someone say they were not going to sue me for medical bills for something and then last minute they handed me this stack of medical bills about $10,000. I was totally screwed over.



I would get in contact with an attorney and make a game plan as you never know what could come from this situation.

Answer 11

If the horse is privately owned and the employee is injured then of course the owner is liable to pay for medical fees. They would need to take it up with their insurance company.



Just because a horse has not kicked before does not mean that it will never kick in its whole life and besides which barn employees are paid a pittance. There is no way they would be able to pay their own medical bills, especially if caused by an owner's horse.

Answer 12

If there is no injury why would you go to hospital?





Not sure why I got a thumbs down for asking a question!



I would say it is the Employers bill not the owner. The employee was doing their job. My Boss has Insurance for the Yard and Employee's.

But I also have insurance myself for my own protection.

Answer 13

I would say this is something that the barn's workman's comp insurance should pay. If one of their employees was hurt while at work, I would think they should cover it.



Either which way, I would recommend speaking to a lawyer.

Answer 14

At my barn you have to sign a release form saying that if somethin like that happens, you can't sue the barn owner, the horse owner, or anything like that.

Answer 15

Please call an attorney. This is nothing to mess around with. Only an attorney can tell you exactly what the laws are in your jurisdiction. However, SOMEONE should pay his medical bills just based on ethical considerations.

Answer 16

if there was a sign saying "stay away from horse" or "warning horse" anything like that i wouldnt worry but other than that i have no idea, that would suck! if my horse injured someone and they wanted me to pay the bills..................i wouldn't because they put themselves in the situation, but idk

Answer 17

Your horse your responsibility. It does suck though, especially because the employee brought it on herself, but the owner is responsible for the bills.