FAST TIPS FOR A CIVIL CASE
“The best time for a lawyer to give advice is before the horse is involved in a civil situation,” says equine attorney R.L. Adams, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He offers these basic rules to help you in case you are ever involved in a civil case:
• There is no such thing as too much documentation. Have an attorney prepare contracts.
• Exercise suspicion toward those you become involved with in deals. Many people will ignore their gut intuition. Learn to listen to it.
• The best way to prove ownership is with some form of permanent equine identification, such as a registered microchip, freeze brand, tattoo, etc.
• Other paperwork such as breed registration, bill of sale, veterinary records, farrier records, Coggins papers and health certificates are helpful to have on hand.
• When talking to law enforcement, be calm. The officer is trying to help you. Don’t make his job harder.
First, you will need to hire an attorney. Seek one who specializes in equine law and is familiar with the industry practices. Just because someone is an attorney and owns or rides a horse, that doesn’t make him qualified to handle your equine legal case.
When you, the plaintiff, file a complaint, the defendant is served with a warrant. The sheriff’s department or a process server can be utilized. Your attorney should know the laws to make sure the correct procedure is followed. Once the defendant is served they will file their answer to your complaint or possibly file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Remember, the opposing counsel’s job is to dispute your claims.
After the answer is filed, the discovery process begins. During this phase, representatives from both sides gather evidence to support their respective claims, and facts may be exposed that will weaken one or both parties’ arguments. While not a guarantee, the
When you sue the perpetrator in a civil court you must present enough evidence to convince a judge and/or jury that you’ve been wronged. This can be a long, expensive process.
parties can agree to a settlement during a lawsuit at any time, even during trial, if it gets to that point.
At any point during the suit, the parties can agree to submit their case to alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which refers to any form of meeting with a third party, such as a mediator, to come to an agreement without going to trial. In fact, some courts may require cases to go to ADR before trial, although in others it’s voluntary. One option for ADR is arbitration---which is like a simplified version of a trial in which the plaintiff and defendant present their evidence before a panel of arbitrators, who will hear the evidence and issue a decision. A binding decision is final. If the decision is nonbinding, then either party has a specified length of time to appeal and take the case to trial. Typically, the process is faster and somewhat less expensive than formal litigation.
Another type of ADR is mediation, in which both parties meet with a mediator to negotiate a resolution to the dispute that both parties can agree to. If mediation is successful the parties will sign a legally enforceable mediation agreement. If mediation fails the parties can take their dispute to trial.
If the case comes to trial, a judge and/or jury will examine the evidence and hear each party’s arguments and then issue a judgment. If unhappy with the decision, the losing party may appeal---a process that takes the dispute to another court. But even the “winner” can come out of the courtroom feeling like a loser--if awarded a monetary judgment, it can be extremely difficult to collect.
So why go through all of this? I’ve often heard it said that by the time you have gone through the civil court process you will probably swear you will never do it again. But the truth is that most people never get that far because of the amount of money it costs to take the defendant to court. Often, it becomes clear that you are not the defendant’s first victim, and you won’t be their last. You may be fighting someone who is skilled at manipulating the laws, and your efforts may prove futile.
“Bad things happen to very savvy people sometimes, but more often than not the victims of horse theft or misappropriation are good, trusting folks who would never do something like steal a horse and so they don’t expect it to be done to them,” says Dottie Burch, an equine attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina. While she acknowledges it’s an individual decision, she adds, “more times than not I discourage people from pursuing civil actions because of the expense, the time commitment, the emotional toll and the uncertainty of a positive outcome.”
HOW YOU CAN PROTECT YOURSELF
Going to court over a missing horse is the last thing you ever want to do. So it makes sense to take measures now to help avoid that possibility. Your goals at this point are twofold: first, to have documentation at hand that proves that you own a particular horse. You can’t just say, “That’s my horse,” and expect him to be handed over to you in a dispute. Second, you need to take steps, in writing, to protect your interests when it comes to all transactions with your horse. Here’s what to do:
• Have ready access to proof of ownership. Only one document truly proves your ownership of a horse: a bill of sale. This document contains, at a minimum, information on the buyer and seller, a description of the horse including any identifying marks, registration numbers, purchase price, terms, and signatures of the buyer and seller. Keep this someplace safe where you can find it quickly in an emergency---time can be critical if you become a victim. Other documents, such as
registration, association
no matter what it took.”
Her only recourse was to sue the buyer of her Arabian and Quarter Horse cross in small-claims court. She returned to North Carolina for the proceedings armed with documentation proving she was the horses’ owner. The court awarded Black both horses in late 2013. Left without a choice, the horses’ buyer reluctantly gave the geldings back. They were immediately moved to another boarding facility, examined by a veterinarian and later shipped to North Dakota. Even though it was only smallclaims court, the ordeal cost Black thousands of dollars, not to mention the emotional stress.
On the other hand, the woman who sold Black’s beloved horses never suffered any consequences for her actions, either criminally or civilly.
What advice does Black offer? “Be sure to have all of your paperwork, lots of pictures and even microchip your horses to prove they are yours if this happens. If you need to have someone board them for you, the best thing I could say is check everything before leaving your babies.”