Pursuant to Alabama law, drivers injured by stray livestock are essentially barred from recovering damages from the animal owner. This article examines the details of the Alabama statute regarding livestock car crash liability.
Motor vehicle accidents caused by animals are far from uncommon in Alabama. Wildlife populations, especially deer, are growing at exponential rates in both rural and urban areas. A 2010 study revealed that Alabamians are involved with roughly 24,971 deer-related accidents per year, totaling more than $83.7 million dollars in property and personal injury damages.
A growing concern in many Alabama counties is livestock-related accidents. Due to their large size, cows and horses frequently cause severe personal injuries when they stray into roadways.
Many livestock car accidents occur at night when drivers are incapable of seeing animals in the roadway. Thus, many accidents occur at
full-speed, providing drivers with little or no time to avoid contact.
Unlike deer-related accidents, car crashes caused by livestock can usually be traced to a responsible party. For instance, an owner may forget to close a gate or fail to adequately repair broken fences; animals may then stray onto the highway and cause a crash. However, Alabama does not currently allow such negligent acts to serve as the basis for a claim against the livestock owner.
Unlike other states, Alabama has an unusual statute concerning car accidents caused by livestock. The statute provides that an owner of any livestock is not liable for any damages to an automobile or its occupants unless the driver proves that the owner “knowingly or willfully” placed the livestock upon the highway. When interpreting the statute, Alabama courts have held that an injured-motorist cannot recover by simply showing that the livestock had strayed onto the highway through the negligence, gross negligence, or recklessness of its owner.
Essentially, the statute prohibits an injured driver from relying on a negligence-based theory to recover damages from the livestock’s owner. Thus, the Alabama statute basically grants immunity to livestock owners for damages caused by their stray animals—even if the owner could reasonably foresee that his animal might stray into the roadway and cause an accident. Therefore, absent unusual circumstances, drivers injured in car collisions with livestock will likely fail to recover against the livestock’s owner.
