Horse boarding question.

[patandchickens]

Actually in the states I've lived in and known people "intersecting with" innkeepers statute issues in some way or another, the boarding barn owner has to go thru the legal process (possibly filing a legal thingie, and selling the horse at advertised public auction) EVEN IF there is explicit language in the boarding contract about what-if.

Mind you, not everyone does this, but I have seen two cases where things got Real Ugly due to the law not being followed (horse's previous owner comes back one fine day and says 'give me my horses' -- in one case, with partial payment and promise to follow up, in the other case what I heard was that *full* payment of 18 months' arrears was offered -- but the horse is either no longer there or has been sold to another boarder). Those weren't nice situations, lots of screaming and lawyers and both parties skulking around in the middle of the night.

Pat

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Quote:
Actually, the boarding facility cannot legally sell the horse or its tack without going through the legal motions of filing paperwork and getting a court order. Otherwise they are selling something for which they do not have legal title and can be sued. I know owners do just sell the animal, but they leave themselves open to possible law suits when they do that. The original owner CAN charge them with theft. I've seen it happen.


Rusty

To explain my own post a bit: The horse owner was 3 months arrears; the barn owner filed the proper paperwork with the sheriff; they held a sheriff's sale. The horse sold for WAY more than the board bill and the barn owner pocketed the cash. The horse owner came back later to collect his horse and pay his bill. When he discovered what had happened, he went to the sheriff and I believe the charge was either theft of the extra money or for defrauding the owner of the extra money. I'm not sure which term was used, but it was a NASTY business for awhile there. The owner did not get his horse back, as the judge said the sale was legal. He did, however, get the difference between what he owed and what the horse sold for, which was a decent amount of money.

My point was/is that the barn owner cannot just take it on himself to sell a horse or tack because he claims he is owed money. There are proper legal steps he has to take that generally involve the sheriff or the courts.

Rusty

 

[petchickenlover]

thank you all for so much information!