Dennis Quaid Horse Lawsuit: Actor Sued Over Near-Fatal Accident

By Deanne Katz, Esq. on September 20, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Dennis Quaid probably thought he was doing a nice thing by letting a horseback rider use his trails to ride to a nearby park but the ride has resulted in a lawsuit against Quaid.

Lester Wood got permission from Quaid to ride on his trails so he took his horse on a ride toward a park in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. But he never got there. The horse got spooked when Quaid's sprinklers went off near the trail and Wood was thrown from the saddle.

He sustained serious injuries and is no longer able to ride. So he's suing Quaid for what Wood calls, a 'flawed trail design.'

Property owners do have responsibility to people on their land and the standard of care changes based on the relationship between the owner and visitor.

Since Quaid allegedly gave Wood permission to ride the trails for his own use that makes Wood a 'licensee.' Property owners have a duty to take reasonable care in protecting licensees from known hazards on the property. But they don't have to inspect the property for unknown dangers.

If you've been hurt on someone else's property, they may be at fault. Get in touch with a lawyer to see if you can get legal relief for your injuries.

The problem wasn't that the trail itself was hazardous but rather that its proximity to the sprinkler system could cause harm to people on the trail.

Still, it's unclear whether Quaid would or should have known that turning on the sprinkler system could spook a horse and cause injury. Wood will have to show that Quaid knew the trail was hazardous and failed to repair it or warn people about it.

Quaid no longer owns the property but Wood alleges that the flawed trail design is to blame for his nearly $500,000 in medical bills. Quaid hasn't yet responded, according to TMZ.

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