Bill Text: TX HB1078 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to liability arising from farm animal activities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-17 - No action taken in committee [HB1078 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB1078-Introduced.html
87R2609 AJA-D | ||
By: Landgraf | H.B. No. 1078 |
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relating to liability arising from farm animal activities. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Sections 87.001(1), (3), and (9), Civil Practice | ||
and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows: | ||
(1) "Engages in a farm animal activity" means riding, | ||
handling, training, driving, loading, unloading, assisting in the | ||
medical treatment of, being a passenger on, or assisting a | ||
participant or sponsor with a farm animal. The term includes | ||
breeding, feeding, or working farm animals as a vocation. The term | ||
includes management of a show involving farm animals. The term does | ||
not include being a spectator at a farm animal activity unless the | ||
spectator is in an unauthorized area and in immediate proximity to | ||
the farm animal activity. | ||
(3) "Farm animal activity" means: | ||
(A) a farm animal show, fair, competition, | ||
performance, rodeo, event, or parade that involves any farm animal; | ||
(B) training or teaching activities involving a | ||
farm animal; | ||
(C) boarding a farm animal, including daily care; | ||
(D) riding, inspecting, evaluating, handling, | ||
loading, or unloading a farm animal belonging to another, without | ||
regard to whether the owner receives monetary consideration or | ||
other thing of value for the use of the farm animal or permits a | ||
prospective purchaser of the farm animal to ride, inspect, | ||
evaluate, handle, load, or unload the farm animal; | ||
(E) informal farm animal activity, including a | ||
ride, trip, or hunt that is sponsored by a farm animal activity | ||
sponsor; | ||
(F) placing or replacing horseshoes on an equine | ||
animal; | ||
(G) examining or administering medical treatment | ||
to a farm animal by a veterinarian; [ |
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(H) without regard to whether the participants | ||
are compensated, rodeos and single event competitions, including | ||
team roping, calf roping, and single steer roping; or | ||
(I) breeding, feeding, or working farm animals as | ||
a vocation. | ||
(9) "Participant" means: | ||
(A) with respect to a farm animal activity, a | ||
person who engages in the activity, without regard to whether the | ||
person: | ||
(i) is an amateur or professional; | ||
(ii) engages in the activity within the | ||
scope of the person's employment as a farm or ranch employee or | ||
engagement as an independent contractor by a farm or ranch owner or | ||
operator; or | ||
(iii) [ |
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activity or participates in the activity for free; and | ||
(B) with respect to a livestock show, a person | ||
who registers for and is allowed by a livestock show sponsor to | ||
compete in a livestock show by showing an animal on a competitive | ||
basis, or a person who assists that person. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 87.003, Civil Practice and Remedies | ||
Code, is amended to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 87.003. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. Except as provided | ||
by Section 87.004, any person, including a farm animal activity | ||
sponsor, farm animal professional, farm or ranch owner or operator, | ||
livestock producer, livestock show participant, or livestock show | ||
sponsor, is not liable for property damage or damages arising from | ||
the personal injury or death of a participant in a farm animal | ||
activity or livestock show if the property damage, injury, or death | ||
results from the dangers or conditions that are an inherent risk of | ||
a farm animal activity or the showing of an animal on a competitive | ||
basis in a livestock show, including: | ||
(1) the propensity of a farm animal or livestock | ||
animal to behave in ways that may result in personal injury or death | ||
to a person on or around it; | ||
(2) the unpredictability of a farm animal's or | ||
livestock animal's reaction to sound, a sudden movement, or an | ||
unfamiliar object, person, or other animal; | ||
(3) with respect to farm animal activities involving | ||
equine animals, certain land conditions and hazards, including | ||
surface and subsurface conditions; | ||
(4) a collision with another animal or an object; or | ||
(5) the potential of a participant to act in a | ||
negligent manner that may contribute to injury to the participant | ||
or another, including failing to maintain control over a farm | ||
animal or livestock animal or not acting within the participant's | ||
ability. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 87.004, Civil Practice and Remedies | ||
Code, is amended to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 87.004. EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. A | ||
person, including a farm animal activity sponsor, farm animal | ||
professional, farm or ranch owner or operator, livestock show | ||
participant, or livestock show sponsor, is liable for property | ||
damage or damages arising from the personal injury or death caused | ||
by a participant in a farm animal activity or livestock show if: | ||
(1) the injury or death was caused by faulty equipment | ||
or tack used in the farm animal activity or livestock show, the | ||
person provided the equipment or tack, and the person knew or should | ||
have known that the equipment or tack was faulty; | ||
(2) the person provided the farm animal or livestock | ||
animal and the person did not make a reasonable and prudent effort | ||
to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in the | ||
farm animal activity or livestock show and determine the ability of | ||
the participant to safely manage the farm animal or livestock | ||
animal, taking into account the participant's representations of | ||
ability; | ||
(3) the injury or death was caused by a dangerous | ||
latent condition of land for which warning signs, written notices, | ||
or verbal warnings were not conspicuously posted or provided to the | ||
participant, and the land was owned, leased, or otherwise under the | ||
control of the person at the time of the injury or death and the | ||
person knew of the dangerous latent condition; | ||
(4) the person committed an act or omission with | ||
wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant and | ||
that act or omission caused the injury; | ||
(5) the person intentionally caused the property | ||
damage, injury, or death; or | ||
(6) with respect to a livestock show, the injury or | ||
death occurred as a result of an activity connected with the | ||
livestock show and the person invited or otherwise allowed the | ||
injured or deceased person to participate in the activity and the | ||
injured or deceased person was not a participant as defined by | ||
Section 87.001(9)(B). | ||
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of | ||
this Act. A cause of action that accrued before the effective date | ||
of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before | ||
the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect | ||
for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |