Bard v. Jahnke

848 N.E.2d 463 (2006)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P, a self-employed carpenter, arrived at D's farm to meet Timer (D), another self-employed carpenter. This large barn housed approximately 400 cows at the time in different sections. Timer (D) took P to proper section and told him how to start the mattress repairs, and then left to complete another chore. P testified that he saw no farm animals at all in the barn when he walked through it with Timer (D). Neither party knew a bull was present. While working, the bull showed up and started to slam him into the pipes in the stall. No one else was present. P pulled himself outdoors through an opening at the bottom of the barn, and crawled over to his truck, where he lay for 'quite a while to get some wind and establish what was going on.' Someone working in the field who P summoned called an ambulance. Injuries included fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, and exacerbation of a preexisting cervical spine condition. The hornless bull was named Fred. He was about 1 1/2 years old and roamed freely in that section of the dairy barn so that he might impregnate cows who had failed to conceive by artificial insemination. Fred had never threatened or injured any other farm animal or human being prior to this incident. Prior to September 27, 2001, none of the bulls on any of the farms worked on or owned by D had ever acted aggressively toward, or injured, another farm animal or human being. P sued Ds in strict liability and negligence. The court granted Ds summary judgment because D did not know that P would be at the barn and Timer (D) was unaware of the bull’s presence. P appealed.