June 28th is National Insurance Awareness Day. Certainly, people in the equine industry may be aware that they have liability insurance, but they sometimes forget to assess whether they have the right insurance. National Insurance Awareness Day offers an annual reminder to review, understand, and update your insurance policies.  Read More › Tags: Boarding, Compliance, Insurance, Liability, Workers' Compensation ..read more

This article was originally published in the May 2015 edition of The Equine Chronicle and has since been updated.  Courts nationwide have grappled with the meaning of equine activity liability laws – especially their exceptions. Exceptions in the laws are important as they could potentially allow certain lawsuits to proceed. Although all of the equine activity liability acts (referred to as “EALAs”) differ, many share common characteristics. Several include an exception for a “dangerous latent condition of the land.” This article explores how the exception has been faring in the courts. R ..read more

Equine sales are on the upswing these days, and many believe we’re now in a seller’s market, with high prices and eager buyers. As a busy lawyer with over 35 years of experience, my phone rings frequently with calls from horse buyers or sellers who are considering a lawsuit or who have been threatened with one.  Read More › Tags: Contracts, Fraud & Abuse, Sales/Disputes ..read more

Presented by Equestrian Professional, equine attorney Julie Fershtman will be speaking on How Equine Professionals Can Avoid Payment Disputes and Handle Them Legally if They Occur. Read More › Tags: Billing/Payment, News & Events ..read more

Your club or association wants to organize a horse show or clinic. These events, your group believes, will boost publicity, increase membership, and generate extra money. Usually the event is a success, leaving happy memories and satisfied participants. But sometimes, things can go wrong, such as: Read More › Tags: Boarding, Lawsuit, Liability ..read more

What happens when people give veterinary or legal advice online – but they’re not even veterinarians or lawyers? In the horse industry, this is a surprisingly common occurrence. Learn more by reading a new Horse Illustrated article on the subject, quoting our own Julie Fershtman. Tags: Animal Abuse, Did you Know?, Liability, News, Veterinary Malpractice ..read more

When Sam was about to leave for a weekend horse show, he discovered that his horse trailer had a broken tail light. Realizing that the problem could not be repaired in time, he asked his neighbor, Jo, to borrow her trailer. She agreed. Within minutes, Sam hitched his truck to Jo’s trailer, unaware that her trailer’s tongue ball socket and his truck’s hitch ball were not compatible – Jo‘s trailer required a hitch with a wider ball. Later, while Bill drove down the highway, the trailer broke away from his truck, injuring his horses, breaking a fence, injuring motorists, and destroying Ann’s trai ..read more

48 states across the country have some form of an Equine Activity Liability Act (as of May 2021). Are people in the two states without such a law – California and Maryland – worse off? If two recent California cases are any indication, courts have shown a willingness to dismiss lawsuits involving people who died in horse-related activities, even without an equine activity liability act. Read More › Tags: Did you Know?, Lawsuit, Liability ..read more

Teenagers, when they learn to drive, are sometimes cautioned that they’re actually driving five cars at once – cars in front of them, behind them, and on either side in addition to the car in which they’re seated – and must watch all of them to protect their safety. In a roughly comparable way, those who board their horses at other peoples’ stables have every incentive to be watchful of the other horses on the property. Knowing that all the horses are current on their de-wormings and vaccinations can be just as important as making sure that your own horse stays on schedule. All it takes is one ..read more

For decades, this author has written articles on the importance of getting equine-related agreements in writing. Some of the articles even shared common characteristics of effective contracts. Still, people in the horse industry continue doing business with nothing in writing, and disputes have occurred. This article explores what can potentially happen when verbal contract disputes become the subject of a legal battle. Read More › Tags: Contracts, Lawsuit ..read more