To persue legal action?

[Poltergeister]

I was injured last year while taking part in a hobby. I had broken bones and muscle damage - I'm still under physio now. I had to have 4 weeks off work and then 4 weeks of phased return, but luckily my sick pay covered this.
I had raised concerns about the way the lesson was going before I was injured but I was told I was being daft. I tried telling them I didn't feel comfortable with what we were doing but it was dismissed. After I was hurt I had no first aid and no paperwork was filled out. When I updated them later that I was significantly injured they weren't particularly bothered and I've never heard from them again.
I'd spoke to a solicitor to get advice on whether this is something worth persuing - mainly because I'd like to put them off continuing the way they are and this happening to someone else (I am not the only person I know to have been injured there).
The solicitors have reviewed it and believe I have a case and would like to take it on on a no win, no fee basis. Its assumed they are correctly insured so any claim would come from that.

But I feel terrible!
I'm worried about any backlash from the people who run the company, and I worry that maybe I'm an awful person or a money grabber.

Am I unreasonable to instruct the solicitor to take on the case?

Horses are unpredictable, they have a mind of there own! Surely you realised this when you signed a waiver?? It is one of the most dangerous sports you can do.

People making claims is ruining the industry. So many riding schools can not afford the insurance premiums anymore and have had to close down. It’s a sad state of affairs that the kind of people that are happy with “where there’s a blame make a claim” are ruining the opportunities available for other people.

Check with the lawyers about adverse costs exposure - in many courts, if you lose, you have to pay the other side's legal fees. That won't be covered by your lawyers' no win no fee agreement.

You’d need an equine barrister, it’s pointless talking to someone without specialist knowledge. I spoke to the top London one, sort of idly, I knew it was going nowhere. I was injured catching in a friend’s horse. I’d agreed to it, so tough, basically.

As a client, you had the choice to say no. I’ve been on massive horses that have bolted, come off loads, it’s part of riding.

If you've been learning for a year I would imagine you would be ready to canter. My friends kids who had riding lessons did.I trotted on pony treks where there was no instruction involved.

OP, a very similar situation happened to me. Not quite as serious as yours. I was doing adult lessons & wasn't asked to sign a waiver. I was pushed into cantering when I simply wasn't ready & ended up falling off. I didn't pursue a claim & I regret it because ten years on I have problems with the hip I landed on. I decided not to claim because I live in a small community & was very worried about repercussions. I think you should do it, in retrospect I wish I had. Best of luck.

I've worked in personal injury for about 20 years. Not in this area, admittedly, but I do think this is worth pursuing. You trusted the riding school to match you up to a horse you could handle and they put you on a known bolter. This link has some more info, I don't have any experience of this firm but it does go into more detail about liability when horse riding.

osborneslaw.com/horse-riding-accident-compensation-claim/

Everyone is making comments about waivers. Waivers are null and void if there has been a breach of the law. Ignore.

The riding school are bound under the law to take reasonable care. This needs to be investigated.

If “inadequate instruction contributed to the accident” then the accident must be reported to RIDDOR. (Quoting pick guidelines, which are in line with the law) Has this been done?

See here for more details. Search RIDDOR to find it. www.pcuk.org/uploads/centres/Health__Safety_in_Horse_Riding_Establishments_and_Livery_Yards_-What_You_Should_Know(CIEH).pdf

Do you have legal expenses insurance, OP? If so you need to speak to your insurers to notify them of a potential claim before you do anything else if you want to use the cover. They'll take about a week to look at the facts and let you know that it's o.k. to go ahead.

Why the hell are people trying to give (wrong) legal advice without all the facts, when OP isn't asking for legal advice and has already seen lawyers who have said they'll take the case on no win no fee (decent lawyers don't offer this unless they feel there's a strong prospect of success).

OP is asking whether it's morally acceptable to sue NOT whether she has a legal case (which her actual qualified solicitors have confirmed a cause of action so no need for the dodgy amateur internet legal advice on here).

Morally I don't see a problem OP, as instructors they should have insurance anyway, and as the experts they should've assessed your ability properly (as you were reliant on their instruction). I would definitely pursue the case to try compensate for some of the inconvenience caused by the accident. Only reason you shouldn't sue is if you want to continue a relationship with the club afterwards. If not, go for it.

@Cherrysoup unless your friend was your instructor, the circumstances of your non claim were completely different. They'll be looking at whether a duty of care is owed, and I imagine the lawyers felt an instructor does owe a duty of care. But we don't know all the facts so none of us can advise.

I can't stand legal advice over the internet, as a solicitor it gets on my nerves to see non lawyers attempting it.

People making claims is ruining the industry. So many riding schools can not afford the insurance premiums anymore and have had to close down. It’s a sad state of affairs that the kind of people that are happy with “where there’s a blame make a claim” are ruining the opportunities available for other people.

I know very little about the industry, but surely it's not people making claims that's ruining the industry, it's bad instruction that is leading to so many people being injured.

If someone is to blame for someone else's injury because they didn't do their job properly, especially when it's injuries like the OP has suffered, then why on early shouldn't a claim be made? It's not ok for riding instructors to teach badly and put students at risk by using unsuitable horses, and if they have done that, then they deserve to be shut down. It wouldn't be claimants ruining opportunities for other people, it would be claimants protecting other people from potential injury, and getting the compensation they rightly deserve.

I'm struggling to believe that you can't dismount unaided if you've been riding a year! Horses aren't robots and every single time you sit in the saddle you're putting yourself at risk, even on the most laid back ploddy type. You were clearly unhappy with your given mount so you should have refused to carry on. I'm sorry that you were hurt but think you need to chalk it up to experience rather than find somebody else to blame in what is a high risk hobby.

People making claims is ruining the industry. So many riding schools can not afford the insurance premiums anymore and have had to close down. It’s a sad state of affairs that the kind of people that are happy with “where there’s a blame make a claim” are ruining the opportunities available for other people.

Well, this is my general thinking too. So many good riding stables have closed down because their insurance premiums are astronomical and they just can't make it work. So everyone loses out - the yards close, the staff lose their jobs, people have fewer and fewer places to ride, as well as riding then becoming the preserve of yards that charge a LOT of money which even fewer people can afford. Riding is then seen as even more elitist.

That said, it sounds like this place really isn't being run well and from what you've said they weren't behaving as would be expected. However the horse world can be pretty tough - I was taught to ride by stout old ladies who would have had no truck with someone saying they didn't want to canter - and not everyone expects that these days. It can just be a misalignment of expectations.

But what is it you want from legal action, OP? If you have incurred financial losses then fair enough but if it's just to make them suffer then I think you'd be better off chalking it up to experience and, if necessary, making a complaint to the local authority/BHS/other regulatory body who could actually change things.

I'd also be very wary of taking the word of a no-win-no-fee solicitor.

Morally and legally of course you can sue.
Ethically speaking YABU imo. You are an adult who had qualms during the session and if they used the words 'ridulous' with you , why you didn't just tell them you wanted to stop I don't know. No one forced you to continue. Why after a year you weren't able to dismount yourself after this exchange of words, walk away and cancel your future lessons, leave shit feedback and book somewhere else I don't know.

You are suing for 'damages', what are your damages? You didn't lose pay. Are you still in pain etc?

Also, how was the horse 'advertised' as being for more advanced riders only? TBH, almost every one of the hundreds of horses I've ever met would bolt if its rider started screaming.

I think it would've very unfair to sue a riding school for a horse bolting.

It is a dangerous sport, I don't think they were negligent.

Just because it's a dangerous sport that can be affected by things outside of an instructors control, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of ways in which an instructor can be negligent, have a bad attitude and give bad advice. Instructors don't get to shirk responsibility entirely when it comes to their students simply by saying 'it's a dangerous sport.

I do a sport that is comparable in this sense, and if riding schools can't afford insurance premiums, then they need to look at their practise and work out how to make things safer. People ending up with multiple broken bones and requiring months of physio from a a simple horse riding lesson is not a reasonable expectation.

You are suing for 'damages', what are your damages? You didn't lose pay. Are you still in pain etc?

She's got broken bones. Isn't that enough for you?

If you have legal advice that you have a case then I would pursue it.

You repeatedly expressed concern, and were dismissed. You put your faith in individuals with considerably more experience than yourself. Yes horse riding is inherently risky , that's why you take lessons with people who are supposed to know what they are doing.
They were wrong in this instance.
Ultimately, for me - whether you could've got off the horse or not, - if you even vaguely think this could happen again to another person again, I'd sue. Since it has happened before with this outfit, I'd say the odds indicate it will happen again. Pursue the case.

That's be how my mind would logic it out.

No win no fee is a high volume model. It's no endorsement of a case that they'd take it.

Surely the problem here is bad yards and bad riding schools causing problems for the good ones. Why are people not directing their ire at them rather than the people (and no doubt horses) harmed by them?

I would have thought it a good thing if a bad/dangerous school closed. Maybe the industry needs better/more robust regulation if it's so easy for unsafe places to operate.

In terms of learning a lot...

You regret not trusting your instincts previously and instead going along with what others told you to do.

How about trusting your instincts now and taking the legal action that you've already looked into and can clearly justify to yourself?

Sure it's good to canvas opinions and obviously I'm here giving mine, but the real lesson of our experience is to trust yourself more and not give in to your self-doubts and insecurities.

Good luck! I hope you win. They sound dangerous.

I’d be more interested in pursuing it through the safety aspect if your interest is really to stop it happening to anyone else . So I’d be asking to see the paperwork for the day you fell off and seeing who you can report them to if they don’t have any .( health and safety maybe ) .