Carl v. Resnick

714 N.E.2d 1, 306 Ill. App. 3d 453, 239 Ill. Dec. 443, 1999 Ill. App. LEXIS 189
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 31, 1999
Docket1-97-3627
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 714 N.E.2d 1 (Carl v. Resnick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carl v. Resnick, 714 N.E.2d 1, 306 Ill. App. 3d 453, 239 Ill. Dec. 443, 1999 Ill. App. LEXIS 189 (Ill. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

JUSTICE McBRIDE 1

delivered the opinion of the court:

On November 19, 1995, plaintiff Judy Carl was riding her horse on a trail in the Cook County Forest Preserve. Defendant Shelly Resnick and her friend, Kathy Paddock, both on horses owned by defendant, were riding in the opposite direction. All three riders stopped to talk when they passed along the trail. At some point, the horse upon which Paddock was riding pinned its ears back, turned its body toward plaintiffs horse, and kicked plaintiff and her horse. One hoof struck plaintiffs leg, causing her injury.

On February 13, 1997, plaintiff filed her first amended complaint alleging both a violation of the Animal Control Act (510 ILCS 5/16 (West 1996)) and negligence. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court denied plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on the Animal Control Act count and granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment, based upon the Equine Activity Liability Act (Equine Act) (745 ILCS 47/1 et seq. (West 1996)), on both counts. Plaintiff now appeals.

Since the trial court found both counts of plaintiffs complaint barred by the Equine Act, we will first address the applicability of that act to the instant cause of action. We recognize this is an issue of first impression, no Illinois court having interpreted the Equine Act since it became effective on July 7, 1995. Section 5 of the Equine Act sets forth the Act’s purposes:

“The General Assembly recognizes that persons who participate in equine activities may incur injuries as a result of the risks involved in those activities. The General Assembly also finds that the State and its citizens derive numerous economic and personal benefits from equine activities. Therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly to encourage equine activities by delineating the responsibilities of those involved in equine activities.” 745 ILCS 47/5 (West 1996).

The “equine activities” sought to be “encourage [d]” are enumerated in section 10(c) of the Act:

“(c) ‘Equine activity’ means:
(1) Equine shows, fairs, competitions, performances, or parades that involve any or all breeds of equines and any of the equine disciplines, including, but not limited to, dressage, hunter and jumper horse shows, grand prix jumping, 3 day events, combined training, rodeos, driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, English and western performance riding, endurance trail riding and western games, and hunting.
(2) Equine training activities, teaching activities, or both.
(3) Boarding equines.
(4) Riding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine belonging to another, whether or not the owner has received some monetary consideration or other thing of value for the use of the equine or is permitting a prospective purchaser of the equine to ride, inspect, or evaluate the equine.
(5) Rides, trips, hunts, or other equine activities of any type however informal or impromptu that are sponsored by an equine activity sponsor.
(6) Placing or replacing horseshoes on an equine.” 745 ILCS 47710(c) (West 1996).

The Equine Act encourages these “equine activities” by providing an assumption of risk defense to defendants sued by plaintiffs injured while engaging in one of the above-listed activities. Section 15 sets forth this defense:

“Each participant who engages in an equine activity expressly assumes the risk of and legal responsibility for injury, loss, or damage to the participant or the participant’s property that results from participating in an equine activity ***.” 745 ILCS 47/15 (West 1996).

In her motion for summary judgment, defendant did not argue that plaintiff was engaged in one of the six categories of activities listed in section 10(c) of the Equine Act at the time of her injury. Rather, she argued plaintiff was “engage[d] in an equine activity” as defined in section 10(a). Compare 745 ILCS 47/10(a) (West 1996) (defining “Engages in an equine activity”) with 745 ILCS 47/10(c) (West 1996) (defining “Equine activity”). Section 10(a) defines “Engages in equine activity” as “riding, training, assisting in medical treatment of, driving, or being a passenger upon an equine, whether mounted or unmounted, or assisting a participant.” 745 ILCS 47/10(a) (West 1996). It is true, as defendant asserts, that plaintiff falls within this definition, inasmuch as plaintiff was “riding *** an equine” when she was injured. Nevertheless, we believe that section 10(a) was clearly intended to be read in conjunction with section 10(c) — only those “riding *** an equine” (745 ILCS 47/10(a) (West 1996)) while participating in one of the six statutory categories of activities (745 ILCS 47/10(c) (West 1996)) assume the risk of their injuries. Thus, in the present case plaintiffs complaint against defendant was not barred by the Equine Act unless plaintiffs recreational riding of her own horse on a public trail was one of the limited activities sought to be encouraged by the Act.

In her brief on appeal, defendant discusses only one of the categories of activities enumerated in section 10(c): “Hiding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine belonging to another.” See 745 ILCS 47/10(c)(4) (West 1996). We fail to see how the activity in which plaintiff was engaged prior to her injury in the instant case falls within this description. While defendant’s companion, Kathy Paddock, may have been “Hiding *** an equine belonging to another” (745 ILCS 47/ 10(c)(4) (West 1996)) at the time of the incident (she was riding a horse owned by defendant), there is no question that the plaintiff was riding her own horse at the time of her injury.

Section 10(c)(4) illustrates why we must reject defendant’s assertion that the Equine Act was intended to bar any cause of action brought by a plaintiff injured while “riding *** an equine” as defined in section 10(a). Such a broad interpretation of the Equine Act would render section 10 internally inconsistent. As previously mentioned, section 10(c)(4) bars only those causes of action brought by plaintiffs injured while “Hiding *** an equine belonging to another.” (Emphasis added.) 745 ILCS 47/10(c)(4) (West 1996).

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Bluebook (online)
714 N.E.2d 1, 306 Ill. App. 3d 453, 239 Ill. Dec. 443, 1999 Ill. App. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carl-v-resnick-illappct-1999.