Parelli thread spinoff: at what point is an equine professional liable?

[LearnToFly]

According to http://www.horse-insurance.com/law.html, almost every state has some sort of law that says basically:
"Warning - Under [state] Law, an equine professional is not liable for an injury to or death of a participant in equine activities resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities"

BUT, obviously there is a point to which an equine professional can be held legally responsible or else there would be no need for insurance. So at what point does a BO or trainer need to worry about legal liability? Is it only in circumstances that are outside the realm of what would be considered "normal"?

[trubandloki]

Since I am in NY and NY is not one of the lovely states that thinks we are responsible for our own actions anyone professional or horse owner is responsible at any time.

[Bluey]

That law doesn't excuse anyone that can be thought to have not been responsable and/or operated according to industry standards.

No sign or waiver is going to keep someone from suing a professional, if an accident happened under their care.

State signs and waivers only give the judge and jury more to go by, to determine if there was negligence.

Do you want to put yourself in the hands and at the mercy of some well paid, slick layer bringing in front of judge and jury an injured party and you have to get a lawyer that will show that no, you really were not at fault after all?
If so, you have more faith in the system than many do.:no:

[greysandbays]

How "liable" a horse professional is depends on A) how good his lawyer is, and B) how dumb the jury is... and C) how determined his insurance company is to "settle" rather than actually defend their client.

[Sonesta]

Most of these laws are there to remind folks that they have assumed a risk when they choose to ride and to protect the equine professional from being sued if the rider is hurt as a result of his/her assumption of that inherent risk. So, an equine professional is protected if Billy Bob gets on a horse, horse spooks and Billy Bob falls off and gets hurt. Or Billy Bob digs in his spurs causing horse to buck or bolt and BB gets hurt.

NONE of these laws are designed to protect a professional from the consequences of his/her own negligence or gross negligence. The "inherent risks" of horses does NOT include negligence on the part of anyone. Moreover, most of these laws also expressly say that the law won't protect a professional from his negligence or from injuries caused by defective tack.