Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Horse Accidental Death

As Mr. Whipple indicates, the main legal question is negligence, i.e. who was responsible for the accident because of not acting with proper care due to the circumstances. Was the driver looking at the road? Was the horse being ridden, or was it an escaped horse wandering along the highway?

Basically who was at fault, and who was not at fault (in simple English)?

Re: Horse Accidental Death

You have a horse's carcass to dispose of. And the responsible party has to pay the value of the horse to its owner.

Re: Horse Accidental Death

Horses are personal property in California, so the horse's owner has rights similar to those of anyone whose personal property is harmed in a vehicular accident. It becomes an issue of negligence (or worse) and liability based thereon.

Since horses were once part of the mainstream of traffic in California and elsewhere, there is also a body of not-quite-obsolete law having to do with the relative rights of animals and animal-drawn vehicles vs. pedestrians, motor vehicles, trains, streetcars, etc., all of which may still have some modern-day relevance.

You might also want to look at Vehicle Code section 21759, which prescribes the duties of a motor vehicle operator when approaching animals or animal-drawn vehicles along the highway.