WORLD EQUESTRIAN CENTER

from Elite Equestrian magazine Jan/Feb 2022 issue

by Elite Equestrian LLC

Naima Moreira Laliberte on Statesman

Stacey Parvey Larsson on Benidetto

1st Place

Ashley Holzer on Havanna

2nd Place

Codi Harrison on Katholt’s Bossco

3rd Place

Pablo Gomaz Molina on Ulises de Yas Tyra Vernon on Ruben

UPCOMING DRESSAGE SHOWS AT THE WORLD EQUESTRIAN CENTER SOUTH, Ocala FL The World Equestrian Center – Ocala Dressage VI Jan 7th, 2022 - Jan 9th, 2022

The World Equestrian Center – Ocala Dressage VIII Jan 21st, 2022 - Jan 23rd, 2022

The World Equestrian Center – Ocala Dressage XIII Feb 25th, 2022 - Feb 27th, 2022

4th Place

Naima Moreria Laliberte on Statesman

5th Place

Sahar Hirosh on Whitman

6th Place

Ivo Juhrend on Cover Girl

is distinguished from the prior implied warranty as this is a warranty that the horse is at least an average horse for the discipline and class for which the horse is sold to compete. The jumper sold, for example, need not be the guaranteed winner at 1.40, just that it is at least an average horse at that level. Conversely, there is no warranty implied here that the horse will perform flawlessly or even always safely, given the inherent dangers of sport horse competition.

3. Disclaimer of Warranties – “As-Is” is not sufficient.

Warranties can only be be disclaimed by conspicuous and clear language A oneliner: “This horse is sold “as-is” would not be sufficient to disclaim a warranty stated, or otherwise implied, by the circumstances of the sale. Do you want to legally disclaim some or all warranties ? Call a knowledgeable equine lawyer and work out the proper language and scope of the disclaimer for your transaction documents. Do not be penny-wise, pound-foolish about committing some resources to having a proper set of an Equine Bill of Sale and and Equine Purchase and Sale Agreement. A lack of proper disclaimer in your documents is a sleeping land mine, waiting to blow up on a seller at a future time, should an issue arise with the horse after sale.

4. Who Can Enforce a Warranty?

The law of most states, including Florida, is that to recover for the breach of a warranty, either express or implied, the plaintiff must be in privity of contract with the defendant. “Privity” means that parties contracting together – the seller and purchaser. An agent of a purchaser, such as a trainer who is not a purchaser or part purchaser of the horse, is not in privity of contract, and thus not entitled to enforce any warranties by the seller in that contract, unless the seller’s trainer is a “third party beneficiary” to the contract.

That does not mean that, because the trainer was going to earn fees from the boarding and training of the horse the trainer, the trainer is in privity with the seller and entitled to enforce the warranties. Those are incidental or consequential benefits, and a person who is not a party to a contract may not sue for breach of that contract where that person receives only an incidental or consequential benefit from the contract.

Rather, a non-party to a contract, such as a trainer, may only qualify as a third-party beneficiary when the following elements are met: (1) existence of a contract; (2) the clear or manifest intent of the contracting parties that the contract primarily and directly benefit the third party; (3) breach of the contract by a contracting party; and (4) damages to the third party resulting from the breach. Therefore, unless equine Bill of Sale or equine Purchase and Sale Agreement specifically states that the seller and purchaser both agree that the purpose of the sale is to benefit the trainer, the trainer would not be able to enforce any warranties against the seller.

A trainer or other agent merely expecting benefits such as fees from the sale commission, training or boarding fees, or competition prize winnings, would not convert the trainer into a third party beneficiary with rights to enforce the warranties, if any, of the equine Bill of Sale or equine Purchase and Sale Agreement. This is because the primary purpose of the horse sale transaction is to benefit the seller and purchaser. For the same reasons, a downstream purchaser, such as the next purchaser after the first purchaser, would not be able to enforce any warranty upon the original seller, because of a lack of direct connection, a lack of privity, with the seller.

A trainer or other agent merely expecting benefits such as fees from the sale commission, training or boarding fees, or competition prize winnings, would not convert the trainer into a third party beneficiary with rights to enforce the warranties, if any, of the equine Bill of Sale or equine Purchase and Sale Agreement.

5. Conclusion.

Be aware that when you sell a horse, if you want to disclaim some or all warranties, you must do it in written form, expressly and correctly. Find yourself a knowledgeable equine lawyer, in the jurisdiction where the equine purchase and sale is to occur, and develop the correct set of transaction documents for that equine purchase and sale.

1. Avery S. Chapman, Esq. is the Founding and Inaugural Chair of The Equine Law Committee of The Animal Law Section of The Florida Bar. The principal Founder of Equine Law Group, LLC, located in Wellington, Florida, Mr. Chapman provides legal counsel to members of the national and international equine industry and equestrian owners and athletes on a wide range of matters including litigation and business, as well as disciplinary matters. He is also a national speaker and writer on equine law issues, a member of the Palm Beach County Bar Association Professionalism Committee and the Professional Ethics Committee of the American Bar Association, as well as past legal counsel to and a Governor At Large of the United States Polo Association, a 501(c)(6) organization. Mr. Chapman may be reached through www.equinelawgroup.com. 2. See Fraud In Horse Sales, https://www.floridabar. org/the-florida-bar-journal/fraud-in-horse-sales-floridasrule-5h-and-unfair-and-deceptive-acts-by-equine-sellersagents-and-others/ EE