Day on Torts
Fortunately, things are so good in Tennessee that the General Assembly has seen fit to take time to limit the responsibility of bovine owners. For you city folk, cows, buffaloes and oxen are known as bovines.
The new law, codified at T.C.A.Sec. 44-21-101 et seq, provides that "no person shall make any claim against, maintain an action against, or recover from a bovine owner for injury, loss, damage, or death of the person resulting from the inherent risks of bovine activities" unless the bovine owner:
(1) Fails to post and maintain warning signs pursuant to § 44-21- 104(a);(2) Fails to maintain proper fences and enclosures pursuant to Chapter 8 of this title; or(3) Commits an act or omission that constitutes willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the person, and that act or omission caused the injury, loss, damage, or death.
The "inherent risks of bovine activities" include but are not limited to the following:
(A) The propensity of a bovine to behave in ways that may result in injury, loss, damage or death to persons on or around the bovine;(B) The unpredictability of a bovine’s reaction to sounds, sudden movements, and unfamiliar objects, persons, or other animals;(C) Certain hazards on the property, such as surface and subsurface conditions; or(D) Collisions with other bovine or objects.
I have not seen a surge of lawsuits in this area, but I my guess is that the purpose of this statute is to provide jobs for Tennesseans. To be sure the link between protecting bovine owners and jobs is weak, but no weaker than the link between the notion that restricting the right to trial by jury creates jobs.