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Monday, August 12, 2013

Ranch Liability

I went on vacation (with my wife and daughters) to a ranch (Rankin Ranch) last week.  The main activity is riding horses.  All guests have to sign a liability waiver which says something to the effect that we indemnify, hold harmless, and promise not to sue regardless of what happens during any and all activities (including horseback riding) while on the ranch.  Even though I'm well aware of the substantial danger of riding a horse, I was perfectly happy to sign that form and accept the risk.

I was talking with the ranchers, and they still have a large and very expensive liability insurance policy which imposes a number of restrictions on the types of horseback riding that's acceptable (for example, it's okay to gallop, but the guests have to be in a straight line while doing so) and the ranchers are still extremely worried about losing the ranch to lawyers because some guest gets hurt.

I don't know that much about liability law.  Why does the ranch need to be concerned with liability if everyone has signed a liability waiver?

5 comments:

Clovis said...

Bret,

I will let someone with knowledge of US laws to comment on your question (Peter?) and comment on something else related to vacations.

I really enjoy your blog for its own quality, but I had one other self interested reason to comment on it: to get my rusty English back before my own vacations.

I've spent the last two weeks in Florida, I get my plane back to Brazil tomorrow and may be offline for a while.

As for the English, it was really very helpful, for the first restaurant I've entered in here people asked me "hola senor como puedo ayudar?"

Thanks God Spanish is really easy for Portuguese speakers.

Well, let me go get a better handle on those bags, as Harry would say.

Hasta la vista.

Bret said...

Clovis,

Thanks for stopping by.

You know where to find us if you need to practice your English again.

erp said...

Guys:

I think Clovis is a definitive possible maybe. :-}

Why? Because he doesn't resort to name calling like some other leftwingers we know. :-{

Clovis:

Ter uma viagem segura para casa.

Blame Google if this says anything other than:

Have a safe trip home.

Anonymous said...

Bret;

Because the judicial system has infantilized the American citizenry and believes it reasonable to declare, ex post facto, that a person was not competent to sign such a waiver. Here is a book that outlines the history of that.

Clovis said...

Erp:

Thanks! It sounds a little bit funny, but I've got the message.

I do intend to continue practicing my English here for sure. And more important than that, maybe I have this same urge everyone here has too:

http://austenacious.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Someone-is-Wrong-on-the-Internet.jpg


Long life to the blogs!