PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) - An Arizona dude ranch that used a faulty liability release form might be on the hook for a customer’s broken leg, after an appeals court reversed a summary judgment for the ranch.
Colleen Gruver and her husband Gary signed up for a guided, 90-minute horse ride at Wild Western Horseback Ranch in Camp Verde in the spring of 2018. Before climbing on their horses, they signed a release assuming full responsibility for injuries “except to the extent such damage or injury may be due to the negligence” of the dude ranch, mistakenly identified by another name.
The release warned customers a horse may “buck, stumble, fall, rear, make unpredictable movements, spook, jump obstacles, step on a person’s feet” and expose riders to other risks including “serious injury or death.”
The Gruvers joined a party of nine riders and with a guide named Flint, who acknowledged he lacked formal training as a wrangler. Gary Gruver said he heard a second wrangler should have been present, but called in sick.
Midway through the ride, a horse bit Gary and as the line of riders stopped, the horse in front of Colleen kicked her shin and broke her tibia. The couple sued the dude ranch, accusing it of negligence, gross negligence, loss of consortium and punitive damages. They hired an expert with years of experience teaching children how to ride, who was prepared to testify that Flint had “totally failed to observe” his customers and protect them from injury.
Despite this evidence, the trial judge dismissed the negligence and gross negligence claims, saying “one does not even come close, in the record, to any possible finding of gross negligence or willful misconduct in this matter.”
Arizona’s Division One Court of Appeals, in a brief opinion, reversed.
The court based its decision primarily upon the release, which it said was faulty under Arizona’s law covering horse owners. That law defines a “release” as relieving the horse owner of all liability except for cases of gross negligence or willful, wanton or intentional acts. Wild Western’s form preserved the right to sue over the dude ranch’s negligence, the appeals court ruled, making it invalid under state law.
The dude ranch also argued the Gruvers failed to present enough evidence to show it was liable for the horse kicking Colleen’s leg. The appeals court disagreed, citing the plaintiff expert and other evidence.
“Although Colleen might not prevail at trial, this record was sufficient to defeat summary judgment,” the court ruled.