In this episode of Groth Gets it! from Groth Law Accident Injury Attorneys, Jon talks with attorney Mitch Raasch and two of our law clerks, Rose and Noelle. They discuss accidents involving livestock and who is at fault. Is it the farmer? The driver? The Livestock? Listen now to find out!

What happens if you hit a cow or horse in Wisconsin? What settlement can you get after hitting a cow or horse in Wisconsin?

Transcript:

Jon Groth:

Sounds great. Interesting stuff, everybody. Sorry. This is Jon Groth. We have an interesting topic. We’re going to talk about cows, right Mitch? Cows.

Mitch Raasch:

Yes.

Jon Groth:

Lots of cows. So let’s see if Groth Gets It on this one. Cows and what’s the liability of, do we want to call them farm animals? Noelle had a good point. If it’s a hobby farm, does that still apply? I would say it’s a farm. A farm’s a farm. If you’re housing animals that are goats, or cows, or pigs, still, you have a responsibility to keep those animals safe and really away from others so they don’t cause injury to somebody else. So, anyway, sorry. So let’s digress. We have one of our panels of legal dominance here. So I have Noelle Rose and Mitch. We can talk about some topics. And you all laughed at legal dominance. I think because you work here, I think you are on the legal dominance team.

Noelle :

You’re right. You’re not wrong.

Jon Groth:

Thank you. Good. It was supposed to be a compliment. It didn’t really work, but I tried. All right. So the reason we’re talking about this is, there’s a case that we have, and well multiple cases because there was the one case that you remember with the one horse?

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah.

Jon Groth:

Horrific pictures, just horrific pictures, just disgusting. A situation that somebody could let a horse out and in the middle of the night, when you just think you’re driving home. And here’s a black horse literally right in the road. And horse went through the windshield and killed this young kid. Just horrific situation. And they knew better. Right? They should not have had this horse just wandering. It just seems like it’s so basic, and it cost somebody’s life, somebody’s brother, somebody’s son. It’s terrible. But we have another situation with cows. So cows were roaming free on the highway. Do you know some of the facts of this, Mitch?

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah. And I don’t want to go into too much detail.

Jon Groth:

Well I think it’s pretty, it’s something that, we’re in Wisconsin. And I think our, well, I don’t know, it’s not our state animal is a cow, is our state animal the dairy cow?

Mitch Raasch:

Badger.

Jon Groth:

Badger? But the cow is something, our state’s something.

Noelle :

I think there’s just a lot of them.

Jon Groth:

Just lots of them?

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah. We just have good cheese.

Jon Groth:

Good cheese. Well, so anyway, cows are significant. They’re important part of Wisconsin. I thought the mosquito was our state animal, but that’s just me. It’s not very funny. All right. So cows, so this is not unusual. We’ve had potential clients, people who have called us because there have been animals that have been on the road. And there are situations that I know other attorneys that I’ve talked to over the years, over the 20 plus years I’ve been around here doing law stuff. We have talked about animals that have been on the highway. And you’re dealing with a situation where it’s a cow on the highway.

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah. A lot of cows on the highway, was a herd of cows that were on the highway, 40 or more cows.

Jon Groth:

Holy cow. I just said, holy cow. That’s hilarious. Holy smokes. I’ll try not to be too punny. Holy smokes.

Mitch Raasch:

But yeah. And client hit one of the cows, or one of the cows hit our client and caused injury, not too complicated of a fact pattern.

Jon Groth:

But then who were you going after? Because the cow, and I’m just playing devil’s advocate in this, the cow certainly is not an automobile. So there’s no auto insurance there. Whose insurance is paying for this?

Mitch Raasch:

The owner of the cow. The owner of the cattle that got loose.

Jon Groth:

So the farm’s commercial policy?

Mitch Raasch:

Right. Yep.

Jon Groth:

Okay. So what if the farm did not have insurance for their cows, then who would pay for the damages to the injured party?

Mitch Raasch:

Then you’d look at a potential uninsured motorist claim through our client, if they carry uninsured motorist coverage.

Jon Groth:

And if you have insurance in Wisconsin, do you have to have uninsured motorist?

Noelle :

Yes.

Mitch Raasch:

Yes.

Jon Groth:

You can be “fully covered” in Wisconsin and what amount of insurance would you have?

Noelle :

25.

Jon Groth:

25. Which is sad it’s only $25,000. So you could run into a cow. The cow has no insurance because the farmers are responsible. And you could have horrific injuries. And if you only had $25,000 in uninsured motorist coverage, you’d only be able to recover 25 grand. And I think we said this before, what’s the average flight for life cost in Wisconsin? And I think it’s going to be more than average if you’re in more of a rural area because you have to fly farther. So let’s guess. Noelle, what’s the average flight for life cost?

Noelle :

8,000?

Jon Groth:

Rose?

Rose:

$2,000?

Mitch Raasch:

20.

Jon Groth:

Mitch is closest without, well maybe you went over. I said average, but no I said rural. So I think you’re more accurate. So yes, it’s around probably closer to $20,000 for a helicopter to come in flight for life and take you out. So right there, the whole policy’s gone. That’s why it’s important when you’re talking to consulting with clients about insurance to really make sure that they have enough insurance. So if the worst case scenario happens and an uninsured cow is in the roadway and you run into them, you’re going to get your damages paid for. So in this case it was a herd of cows. How come our client didn’t see the cows if there’s a whole herd?

Mitch Raasch:

Well, it’s not that they didn’t see the cows, it’s that they couldn’t evade the cows. They tried to and they were unable to.

Jon Groth:

Because there’s that many cows.

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jon Groth:

Probably going over a hill and like holy smokes. Here’s all these cows.

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah.

Jon Groth:

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. So, that’s a situation that happened on I’m assuming it was a rural part of Wisconsin?

Mitch Raasch:

Yes.

Jon Groth:

Okay. Let’s talk about other situations. So there’s animals at large. Now here let’s go way back. Because before we started to press the record button, you had a question for me to ask Mitch. And what was that question?

Noelle :

Well, you asked us this question earlier and it took us a bit, but we got it. So Mitch, the statute 172.01 reads no stallion over one year old nor bull over six month old nor bore nor Ram nor Billy goat over four months old shall run at large. And Jon asked us what all those animals have in common and why the statute specifically lists those animals?

Mitch Raasch:

Are they all males?

Noelle :

Dang it.

Jon Groth:

Look at that good job, Mitch. Good job.

Jon Groth:

I did not give you a hint. Right? I mean that was all your own brain, brain power experience. That’s awesome. So, well now, then the follow up is why? Why does it matter if it’s males or females?

Mitch Raasch:

More aggressive. I don’t know. More dangerous. I don’t know.

Jon Groth:

Okay.

Mitch Raasch:

More capable of getting out.

Jon Groth:

Eh.

Mitch Raasch:

I don’t know.

Noelle :

This one took us a while too.

Jon Groth:

Yeah. So who wants to answer the question?

Noelle :

Hormones.

Jon Groth:

Hormones. And why? Why hormones?

Noelle :

When the female’s in heat, the male will travel to the females, so they’re more likely to traverse across the road.

Jon Groth:

And just try to escape because a billy Buck or Billy goat, the male goat has good nose and can smell a female goat from however long away, however far away. And what’s a female. Well, sorry. Let me finish that thought. So then the Billy buck or Billy goat’s going to want to get there and can maybe jump over a fence if you’re negligent and have a short fence or if you have a hole in the fence, they’re going to try to get out, actively try to get out to get to that female. And a female goat is called a rose says, no, sorry. Noelle says no rose says,

Noelle :

I don’t know.

Jon Groth:

You don’t know. Mitch says.

Mitch Raasch:

A goata.

Jon Groth:

Oh goodness gracious. A nanny.

Noelle :

What?

Jon Groth:

A nanny goat. A female goat is called a nanny goat.

Noelle :

Wow. The more you know.

Jon Groth:

The more you know. So then let’s go through to what through one that we, that was in that, was it pigs? Is that what it said? Boar?

Noelle :

Boar. Noel’s fence question is answered here too.

Jon Groth:

Well, I want to kind of stump somebody again. I’ll go with Mitch. Mitch, what’s a female pig called? A male pig is a?

Noelle :

A boar.

Jon Groth:

A boar. That was just said in the statute. So you’re right.

Noelle :

Yeah.

Jon Groth:

What’s a female pig called, Mitch? Then we’ll go to rose and we’ll go to Noelle. Oh man. This is great. A great recording silence. This is wonderful. Wonderful recording. Okay.

Noelle :

A female pig.

Jon Groth:

A female pig.

Noelle :

Pig.

Jon Groth:

This is the Wisconsin state fair. We should know what these animals are. All right.

Noelle :

A sows.

Jon Groth:

Oh my goodness. She Googled it. I saw her Google that.

Noelle :

No, I didn’t. I just knew it.

Jon Groth:

She just put her phone down because she also said so. Okay.

Noelle :

Can you do the pig call? I’m not doing it.

Mitch Raasch:

It looked like you were about to try it.

Jon Groth:

But what’s a female pig called?

Noelle :

A Sue?

Jon Groth:

Sow. It’s a sows.

Mitch Raasch:

I knew that.

Noelle :

Or a gilt, allegedly.

Mitch Raasch:

How do you spell that?

Jon Groth:

Okay.

Noelle :

G I L T S.

Jon Groth:

Okay. What’s a non mature, a baby pig called?

Noelle :

Piglet.

Jon Groth:

There we go. And that we know from?

Noelle :

Winnie The Pooh.

Jon Groth:

Winnie The Pooh. There we go. All right. We’re making some headway now. All right. So the gate question, or what were you saying, Rose? The what question?

Rose:

Oh yeah. Before I asked if it was the fence that was faulty and it was set up by the farmer if there’s still liable, but it answers the question and it doesn’t matter if they get out, it’s strict liability and it’s still on the owner and the keeper.

Jon Groth:

Yeah. And that’s again, the important terms that are those two words, strict liability. So when dealing with animals, there’s strict liability applies for like dog bites in Wisconsin. If you’re bit by a dog, if you’re owner or a keeper, and that’s important to differentiate between owner and keeper, because you can be a keeper, but not necessarily owner of animal. Right. But you’re still strictly liable for the damages that a dog can cause. And the same goes for certain types of animals, male horses, cows, or sorry, male, boar, Billy goat, stallion, Ram, and bull. Right. Interesting. So those are all in those cases the male animals are more likely to get out because they’re certain times a year, certainly more likely to try to find a female animal. So that’s why the farmers should know this. No matter if they’re a professional farmer or just somebody who happened to go buy a goat on the side of the road, ignorance of the law is no defense.

Jon Groth:

Then it goes to the next question. What if somebody hits a female cow, a female goat, a nanny goat, can that person, the owner of the cow, be held responsible if the cow is walking on the side of the road or in the road and it is just one cow that escaped and you hit that cow?

Mitch Raasch:

Sure. You just have to prove negligence.

Jon Groth:

And what’s the difference between negligence and strict liability? Now I’m looking at not Mitch. So let’s see if Noel or Rose, Rose or Noel know the answer to this. Negligence versus strict liability.

Noelle :

Well, negligence has to do with duty of care. And strict liability doesn’t care about that at all.

Rose:

I think causation is one of the main ones. Negligence requires a lot of causation, whereas strict liability it either is or it isn’t despite what caused it like the fence part. Even if the fence caused the animals out, with strict liability, that doesn’t matter. But with negligence, the condition of the fence or the brand of the fence might matter.

Jon Groth:

Yeah. I think with, with negligence, right? It’s duty breach cause harm. And when you’re dealing with strict liability, you are assumed to be responsible. It’s strict. You have an obligation to pay because these elements were met. Therefore you are strictly liable. You are responsible no matter what. Interesting. But I think that’s a very good point is that you can still have a claim for your injuries if it’s a female versus a male animal. I think it’s just going to be easier to get compensation if it’s a male animal based on the statute in Wisconsin. So interesting stuff. What else, anything else we need to talk about with this one? What else was there that we were going to look up? Were there any other statutes or anything else regarding animals or was the statute?

Mitch Raasch:

I know the fence statute is Wisconsin statute 90, but just in general, I guess it’s important to when, if this ever happens, which hopefully doesn’t to any of our listeners, but you want to get pictures of the area, get pictures of if there’s any fences around just to document any kind of negligence that the person might not have kept the fence in good repair, talk to neighbors that might be able to give a pattern of this type of issue and then the Sheriff’s office as well.

Jon Groth:

Yeah. Yeah. And it’s a very good point. Hopefully the police came in and did their due diligence and did their investigation to figure out how this actually happened. And then hopefully they’ll be then written down in the police report, but we can’t always trust that the police are going to have the time or be as complete as we would be because they’re looking for other things. I mean, we’re looking at the animals at large statute. They’re looking more at, at that moment is everybody okay? And how can we make sure that they’re getting onto the helicopter to get to the hospital as opposed to why is this horse out or whatever else?

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah. Or whose cow is this or who does it belong to?

Jon Groth:

Is it a male or female? Right? Yeah. Okay. So, sorry, Rose.

Rose:

I was just going to ask for clarification with strict liability with this statute driver liability or negligence isn’t really taken into account. So I would just ask if it was the same, if the driver was drunk and hit the cow in the wrong lane that they were not supposed to be in the first place.

Jon Groth:

Wow. Yeah.

Rose:

Would that still be strict liability? The farmer or the owner being liable?

Jon Groth:

Okay. So ultimately we have to look at this as if we’re going to trial, right? So we always start every single case as if we’re going to trial. And at trial, a jury is given a special verdict form and that form is going to say, you’ve been in paneled and here are some questions you must answer. One of the questions is, was the defendant negligent? Was there negligence a cause of the crash? And if so, then answer some more questions. The judge can also instruct the jury or the special verdict could say was the plaintiff, was the injured person negligent and was their negligence a cause of the crash. And then they’d have to have comparative negligence to figure out, okay, given that the total’s 100%, what amount would be on the farmer and the animal and what amount would be on the person.

Jon Groth:

So you can have strict liability and you’re responsible, but that can also be compared to somebody else’s responsibility. So in that situation, boy, you have somebody’s drunk who’s in an oncoming traffic and hits a male stallion. I think we’re going to trial to try to figure out who is actually going to be responsible for what farmers at fault and their negligence was a cause. But then it goes to the next question and we have to figure out what a jury would say or whether we can come to an agreement as to what responsibility does the person hold for being drunk and being in the wrong lane.

Rose:

So even if it’s strict liability, the liability could still be divvied up at trial?

Jon Groth:

Correct. Yeah. Interesting. Great question. Great question. I have a question because we were talking about badgers in the Wisconsin badgers. So what’s a male called? I have it on my screen. No, we cannot look at her. Nobody can look at their.

Noelle :

What’s the first letter?

Jon Groth:

The first letter of a Badger, a male Badger is B.

Noelle :

Badger.

Jon Groth:

No male Badger is not well, it’s a Badger. It’s still a Badger, but it’s also known as a?

Noelle :

I could not tell you.

Jon Groth:

Okay, a baby Badger is called a Cub or a kit. Does that give you a hint? Probably not. A group of badgers is not called a swarm. A group of badgers is called a sett, S E T T. Like a group of crows is called a murder of crows. What is this? What’s a group of Ravens called, do you know what this is? I think it’s called like a hassle or something. Am I wrong?

Mitch Raasch:

I am not good at animal trivia at all.

Noelle :

Are we still on the Badger question?

Jon Groth:

Yeah.

Rose:

A setter?

Jon Groth:

No.

Mitch Raasch:

No. It’s B.

Rose:

Oh.

Mitch Raasch:

It starts with B.

Noelle :

He’s tripping me up with all these hints.

Rose:

A Buster.

Mitch Raasch:

I like that gas, but it’s definitely not right.

Jon Groth:

A group of Ravens is called in unkindness or a conspiracy of Ravens, which I think is hilarious because that’s awesome. That’s just a conspiracy of Ravens. Like a murder of crows.

Rose:

They’re definitely conspiring when they’re together.

Jon Groth:

They are conspiring. Okay. Badgers. What’s a male Badger called? This is fascinating.

Mitch Raasch:

Second letter please. Second letter.

Jon Groth:

Okay. I’ll give it to you. O. B O.

Noelle :

Borat.

Jon Groth:

Oh my goodness. It’s a boar. Okay. This is going off the rails. A boar rat? It’s not called a boar rat.

Noelle :

I know it’s not called a boar rat.

Jon Groth:

What’s a female badger called if a male’s a boar?

Noelle :

Sow.

Jon Groth:

A sow.

Rose:

Sow.

Jon Groth:

It’s a sow. Thank you. It’s a sow. Rose is a hundred percent correct. It is not a sew, sewing is something you do when you need to fix your shirt, I guess.

Noelle :

Did I not tell you English is not my first language?

Jon Groth:

Oh.

Noelle :

I told you that before.

Rose:

Is it not?

Noelle :

No, it’s not for real.

Rose:

Oh yeah.

Jon Groth:

And what is?

Noelle :

Tagalog. I don’t speak it anymore though.

Jon Groth:

Okay. When did you first start speaking English?

Noelle :

One and a half.

Jon Groth:

Okay.

Noelle :

Learning curve, though.

Mitch Raasch:

Learning curve? Learning curve.

Jon Groth:

When did you first start speaking Tagalog?

Noelle :

Couple months after I entered the world, I think. When do babies start talking?

Jon Groth:

One and a half.

Noelle :

One and a half. Really?

Mitch Raasch:

Yeah. Pretty much.

Noelle :

Came to the country. My mom said, I didn’t know any English. I’m telling you.

Rose:

Is it possible you didn’t know any language?

Noelle :

That could be true too.

Mitch Raasch:

I think that’s what we’re getting at here.

Jon Groth:

My kids’ first language was in essence sign language, because we signed with them. So we would do this and this and thank you. And this is milk. This is more. Yeah. And so according to the Google, kids’ first words are somewhere between 12 and 18 months.

Noelle :

I was talking.

Rose:

You could have been at 12 months.

Jon Groth:

That’s right.

Noelle :

My mom said I was a talker.

Rose:

Well you could just say like how like mom and dad could have been saying that in Tagalog.

Noelle :

All right. I’m still using it.

Jon Groth:

That’s fine. Okay. What’s a male bison called?

Noelle :

A bull?

Jon Groth:

Fantastic. Good job. What’s a female bison called?

Noelle :

Cow.

Jon Groth:

A cow. Not a co like a so, but a cow like a sow.

Noelle :

All right.

Jon Groth:

All right. There we go. Full circle. Thank you very much. Thanks for coming in. Hopefully we enlightened the world with our talk about cows and stallions and boars. What else we talk about? Boars.

Mitch Raasch:

Rams.

Jon Groth:

Rams.

Rose:

Billy goats.

Jon Groth:

Billy goats, nanny goats, Cubs, kits.

Noelle :

What’s the female Ram?

Jon Groth:

I think it’s a nanny.

Noelle :

Same as goat.

Jon Groth:

I think so.

Noelle :

That would make sense.

Jon Groth:

Right? Well now, you have me interested.

Noelle :

Cousins.

Rose:

I learned a lot of new stuff today.

Noelle :

I did as well and was slightly humiliated.

Jon Groth:

No. Well, okay. Because a sheep. It’s a buck or a Ram and then a ewe.

Noelle :

Oh yeah.

Rose:

Oh, I heard that.

Noelle :

E W E?

Jon Groth:

E W E. And then a baby sheep is called a?

Noelle :

Lamb.

Jon Groth:

A lamb. Then a group of sheep are called a? Oh, come on. Flock or a herd, a flock of sheep. Kind of like a flock of seagulls, like the famous band. Okay. All right. We’re really running out the topics here. Thank you everybody. Talk to you next time.

Mitch Raasch:

Thank you.