By: Murr H.B. No. 365
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the limitation of liability for farm animal activities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 87, Liability Arising From Farm Animals,
Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:
(1) "Engages in a farm animal activity" means riding,
handling, training, driving, loading, unloading, feeding,
vaccinating, exercising, weaning, transporting, producing,
herding, corralling, branding, dehorning, health management
activities, assisting in the medical treatment of, being a
passenger on, or assisting a participant or sponsor with a farm
animal. The term includes management of a show involving farm
animals as well as routine or customary activities on a farm to
handle and manage 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.
(2) "Equine animal" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey,
or hinny.
(2-a) "Farm" means: any real estate, land area,
facility, or ranch used in whole or in part for raising,
cultivating, propagating, fattening, grazing, or any other
farming, livestock, agriculture, or aquacultural operation. For
purposes of this Chapter, "farm" and "ranch" shall be
interchangeable and the act shall apply to either or both.
(2-b) "Farm animal" means:
(A) an equine animal;
(B) a bovine animal;
(C) a sheep or goat;
(D) a pig or hog;
(E) a ratite, including an ostrich, rhea, or emu;
or
(F) a chicken or other fowl.
(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) owning, raising, boarding, pasturing a farm
animal, including daily care;
(D) riding, inspecting, evaluating, handling,
transporting, 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 n;
(H) assisting or providing animal health
management activities, including vaccination;
(I) assisting or conducting customary tasks on a
farm concerning farm animals;
(J) transporting or moving a farm animal; or
(K) without regard to whether the participants
are compensated, rodeos and single event competitions, including
team roping, calf roping, and single steer roping.
4) "Farm animal activity sponsor" means:
(A) a person or group who sponsors, owns,
organizes, or provides the facilities for a farm animal activity,
including facilities for a pony club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding
club, therapeutic riding program, or high school or college class,
program, or activity, without regard to whether the person operates
for profit; or
(B) an owner, operator of, instructor at, or
promoter for facilities, including a stable, clubhouse, pony ride
string, fair, or arena at which a farm animal activity is held.
(C) an owner of a farm.
(5) "Farm animal professional" means a person engaged
for compensation:
(A) to instruct a participant or rent to a
participant a farm animal for the purpose of riding, driving, or
being a passenger on the farm animal;
(B) to rent equipment or tack to a participant;
(C) to examine or administer medical treatment to
a farm animal as a veterinarian or other person providing
non-medical care or treatment including vaccination;
(D) to assist or provide animal health management
activities, including vaccination
(E) to provide other care, feeding, and husbandry
of farm animals;
(F) assisting or conducting customary tasks on a
farm concerning farm animals; or
(G) transporting or moving a farm animal.
(6) "Livestock animal" means:
(A) an animal raised for human consumption; or
(B) a farm animal.
(6-a) "Livestock producer" means a person who owns,
handles, breeds, raises, buys, sells, or feeds livestock animals.
(7) "Livestock show" means a nonprofit event at which
more than two species or breeds of livestock animals are gathered
for exhibition or competition.
(8) "Livestock show sponsor" means a recognized group
or association that organizes and sanctions a livestock show,
including a political subdivision or nonprofit organization that is
exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(a), Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, by being listed as an exempt
organization in Section 501(c)(3) of that code.
(9) "Participant" means:
(A) with respect to a farm animal activity, a
person who engages in the activity, without regard to whether the
person is an amateur or professional, whether the person pays for
the activity or participates in the activity for free or is an
independent contractor or employee;
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.
Sec. 87.002. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. This chapter does
not apply to an activity regulated by the Texas Racing Commission.
Nothing in this chapter alters the applicability of the provisions
of Chapter 406 of the Texas Labor Code or an employer's ability to
refuse to subscribe to the worker's compensation system.
Sec. 87.003. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. Except as provided
by Section 87.004, all persons, including a farm animal activity
sponsor, farm animal professional, farm owner or lessee 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 farm
animals, a farm animal activity, showing of an animal on a
competitive basis in a livestock show, or raising or handling
livestock on a farm, 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, handling, 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.
Sec. 87.004. EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. A
person, including a farm animal activity sponsor, farm owner or
lessee, farm animal professional, livestock show participant, or
livestock show sponsor, may be 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, work, 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
willful 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).
Sec. 87.005. WARNING NOTICE. (a) A farm animal
professional, a farm owner or lessee, shall post and maintain a sign
that contains the warning contained in Subsection (c) if the
professional manages or controls a farm, stable, corral, or arena
where the professional conducts a farm animal activity. The
professional must post the sign in a clearly visible location on or
near the stable, corral, or arena.
(b) A farm animal professional shall include the warning
contained in Subsection (c) in every written contract that the
professional enters into with a participant, employee or
independent contractor for professional services, instruction, or
the rental of equipment or tack or a farm animal. The warning must
be included without regard to whether the contract involves farm
animal activities on or off the location or site of the business of
the farm animal professional. The warning must be clearly
readable.
(c) The warning posted by a farm animal professional under
this section must be as follows:
WARNING
UNDER TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 87, CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES
CODE), A FARM ANIMAL PROFESSIONAL IS NOT LIABLE FOR AN INJURY TO OR
THE DEATH OF A PARTICIPANT, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR OR EMPLOYEE IN
FARM ANIMAL ACTIVITIES RESULTING FROM THE INHERENT RISKS OF FARM
ANIMAL ACTIVITIES.
(d) A livestock show sponsor shall post and maintain a sign
that contains the warning prescribed by Subsection (f) if the
livestock show sponsor manages or controls a stable, barn, corral,
or arena at which the livestock show sponsor conducts a livestock
show. The livestock show sponsor must post the sign in a clearly
visible location near the stable, barn, corral, or arena.
(e) A livestock show sponsor shall include the warning
prescribed by Subsection (f) in every written contract that the
sponsor enters into with a livestock show participant. The warning
must be clearly readable.
(f) The warning posted by a livestock show sponsor under
this section must be as follows:
WARNING
UNDER TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 87, CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES
CODE), A LIVESTOCK SHOW SPONSOR IS NOT LIABLE FOR AN INJURY TO OR
THE DEATH OF A PARTICIPANT IN A LIVESTOCK SHOW RESULTING FROM THE
INHERENT RISKS OF LIVESTOCK SHOW ACTIVITIES.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.