£25,000 compensation for horse rider involved in a road traffic accident

We recently acted for Mrs J following a road traffic accident.

The circumstances of the accident were that Mrs J was out on a hack with a friend and was riding single file along a country lane when her horse was spooked causing it to move to its right further into road. As her horse moved into the road, a car attempted to overtake and collided with the horse.

Mrs’ J was knocked from her horse and both she and the horse sustained injuries.

Liability was contested as the Defendant argued that Mrs J’s horse had moved in to the path of their client causing the collision. HorseSolicitor advanced the argument that whilst it was accepted that the horse had been spooked into the road and that the cause of the horse having spooked was not because of the Defendant’s negligence, the horse’s behaviour before the horse moved into the road should have put the Defendant on notice that the horse was acting unpredictably.

It was argued that as such the Defendant should have exercised additional caution in carrying out his overtaking manoeuvre and should have performed his overtake at a lower speed than he had done.

An out of court settlement was reached whereby it was agreed that Mrs J would settle her claim on a split liability basis sharing responsibility equally. The value of Mrs J’s claim was agreed at £25,000.00 net of the liability split.