Senate Bill No. 433
(By Senator Deem)
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[Introduced February 19, 1996; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article four, chapter
twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to limiting the
liability of a horseman or operator of a horseman's business
engaged in equestrian activity.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article four, chapter twenty of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. EQUESTRIAN ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBILITY ACT.
§20-4-5. Liability of horsemen.
(a) A horseman or operator of a horseman's business shall
may be liable for injury, loss or damage caused by failure to follow the duties set forth in section three of this article
where the violation of duty is causally related to the injury,
loss or damage suffered. A horseman shall not be liable for any
injury, loss or damage caused by the negligence of any person
who is not an agent or employee of such horseman.
(b) A horseman shall be liable for acts or omissions which
constitute gross negligence or willful and wanton conduct which
is the proximate cause of injury to a participant.
(c) A horseman shall be liable for an intentional injury
which he or she inflicts upon a participant.
(d) Every horseman shall carry public liability insurance in
limits of no less than one hundred thousand dollars per person,
three hundred thousand dollars per occurrence and ten thousand
dollars for property damage not be liable for an injury to or the
death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of
equestrian activities and, except as provided in subsection (b)
of this section, no participant or participant's representative
shall make any claim against, maintain an action against, or
recover from any horseman or operator of a horseman's business
for injury, loss, damage or death of the participant resulting
from any of the inherent risks of equestrian activities.
(b) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section shall prevent
or limit the liability of a horseman or operator of a horseman's
business if the horseman or the operator of a horseman's
business:
(1) Provided the equipment or tack, and knew or should have
known that the equipment or tack was faulty, and the equipment or
tack was faulty to the extent that it did cause the injury; or
(2) Provided the horse or horses and failed to make
reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the ability of the
participant to engage safely in the equestrian activity and to
safely manage the particular horse based on the participant's
representations of his or her ability; or
(3) Owns, leases, rents or otherwise is in lawful possession
and control of the land or facilities upon which the participant
sustained injuries because of a dangerous latent condition which
was known or should have been known to the horseman or operator
of a horseman's business and for which warning signs have not
been conspicuously posted; or
(4) Commits an act or omission that constitutes willful or
wanton disregard for the safety of the participant, and that act
or omission caused the injury; or
(5) Intentionally injures the participant.
(c) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section shall prevent
or limit the liability of a horseman or operator of a horseman's
business under liability provisions as set forth in the products
liability laws.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to further limit the
liability of a horseman and operator's of a horseman's business
who provide equestrian activity.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.