Vigue v. Noyes

550 P.2d 234, 113 Ariz. 237, 1976 Ariz. LEXIS 272
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1976
Docket12237-PR
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 550 P.2d 234 (Vigue v. Noyes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vigue v. Noyes, 550 P.2d 234, 113 Ariz. 237, 1976 Ariz. LEXIS 272 (Ark. 1976).

Opinions

GORDON, Justice:

We granted this petition for review in order to clarify Arizona law relating to the liability of the possessor of a domestic animal other than a dog for injuries caused to third parties. The plaintiff-respondent, Mary Alice Vigue, a minor received serious injuries when she was kicked by a horse owned by the defendant-petitioner, Victor Noyes. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the respondent in the sum of $160,000, after which the trial court invited and granted a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict pursuant to Rule 50(b) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure.

In addition to Noyes, the verdict was against D. K. and Audean Gibson, husband and wife, owners of Horseshoe Acres, the stables at which the accident occurred. They are not parties to this appeal because the appellant failed to file a petition for review of that portion of the Court of Appeal’s decision which affirmed the trial court’s entry of judgment N.O.V. in the Gibson’s favor.

Noyes was fourteen years of age at the time and boarded his horse, Whiskey, at Horseshoe Acres. Mary Alice Vigue was four and one-half years of age at the time of the accident. Her mother, Sharon Rector, also boarded her horse Teabag at Horseshoe Acres. The facilities there consisted of a barn, tack room and a series of individual stalls with fences made of metal pipes. Each stall opened out into a fenced arena.

While cleaning a stall, the owner of a horse would let it into the arena to wander or graze on scattered patches of grass. The arena was also used for riding and training the horses. The rules incorporated into the rental agreement signed by Sharon Rector provided that children [239]*239and guests were to use a bench situated inside the arena so as not to create a safety-hazard.1

On the day of the accident Noyes let Whiskey into the arena while cleaning his stall. Following the cleaning, Noyes went to the barn to look for his hackamore and there encountered Rector who, accompanied by her daughter and a young girl named Kathy Brumbelow, had come to feed Teabag. While Brumbelow started to help Noyes look for the hackamore, Rector got some buckets of seed and with Mary at her side started across the arena towards Teabag. Rector testified that she heard Whiskey sniffing behind her and after shooing him away several times he turned and left. She then stated that when they reached Teabag’s stall Whiskey galloped by and kicked, narrowly missing her and striking Mary in the head. As a result, Mary suffered serious injuries, including brain damage and a loss of sight in her left eye.

The Court of Appeals in Vigue v. Noyes, 24 Ariz.App. 144, 536 P.2d 713 (1975) affirmed the trial court’s entry of judgment N.O.V. as to the Gibsons, concluding that there was no evidence that the stable owners were negligent or were harboring a dangerous animal or knew of any dangerous propensities. The judgment in favor of Noyes, however, was set aside as the Court found there was a jury question as to whether he was negligent in leaving Whiskey unattended while he searched for his hackamore.

The possessor of a domestic animal other than a dog may be subject to liability under either a strict liability or negligence theory for harm caused by it to others.2 Strict liability is imposed where the person had reason to know prior to the damage causing event that the animal had dangerous propensities abnormal to its class. Hale v. O’Neill, 492 P.2d 101 (Alaska 1971); Flynn v. Lindenfield, 6 Ariz.App. 459, 433 P.2d 639 (1967). Restatement of Torts § 509. Cf. Arizona Livestock Company v. Washington, 52 Ariz. 591, 84 P.2d 588 (1938). An exception exists where it is “shown that the injured person, with knowledge of its viciousness, did something to such animal which caused it to injure him.” Walter v. Southern Arizona School for Boys, 77 Ariz. 141, 267 P.2d 1076 (1954). The exception extends to instances where an individual has assumed the risk or is contributorily negligent, such as where someone rides a horse with knowledge of its vices or enters a yard where a vicious dog is kept despite warnings that he should keep out. Hale v. O’Neill, supra; Adams v. Crandall, 418 S.W.2d 730 (Ky.App.1967). See also Swerdfeger v. Krueger, 145 Colo. 180, 358 P.2d 479 (1960). The law does not require “any particular number of instances of unprovoked attack or injury to show a vicious disposition in an animal, and the jury may draw such inferences from a single act, especially if it be an attack upon a person.” Perazzo v. Ortega, 29 Ariz. 334, 241 P. 518 (1925). The requisite knowledge may be actual or constructive, such as where the possessor’s agent or spouse has been informed of the animal’s inclination. Perazzo v. Ortega, 32 Ariz. 154, 256 P. 503 (1927); Benke v. Stepp, 199 Okl. 119, 184 P.2d 615 (1947). A possessor of a domestic animal who is chargeable with knowledge of its dangerous propensities is bound to keep the animal secured at his peril and the fact that it escapes does not relieve him from [240]*240liability for injuries inflicted. Barger v. Jimerson, 130 Colo. 459, 276 P.2d 744 (1954).

We agree with the Court of Appeals that the record is devoid of sufficient evidence from which the jury could reasonably conclude that Whiskey had exhibited any dangerous propensities prior to the accident which is the subject of this case. The fact that the horse had damaged his stall by kicking at flies, was a “real good eater”, occasionally crowhopped (stopped suddenly with stiff front legs) causing his owner to slide off and allegedly acted “funny” on the day of the accident in no way tends to establish that Whiskey was vicious.

The question thus becomes whether Noyes may be subjected to liability on a negligence theory. Restatement of Torts § 518 states in part:

“LIABILITY FOR HARM DONE BY DOMESTIC ANIMALS WHICH ARE NOT ABNORMALLY DANGEROUS “ * * * [0]ne who possesses or harbors a domestic animal, which he does not have reason to know to be abnormally dangerous but which is likely to do harm unless controlled, is subject to liability for harm done by such animal if, but only if,
“(a) he fails to exercise reasonable care to confine or otherwise control it, and
“(b) the harm is of a sort which it is normal for animals of its class to do.
* * *

This subsection is applicable to domestic animals such as a horse or cow which can be confined to the premises of their keepers or otherwise kept under control without seriously affecting their usefulness and which are not abnormally dangerous. The utility of these animals is sufficient to justify their being kept without risk of the strict liability stated in § 509.

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Vigue v. Noyes
550 P.2d 234 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
550 P.2d 234, 113 Ariz. 237, 1976 Ariz. LEXIS 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vigue-v-noyes-ariz-1976.