This video from a Mexican rodeo is like a training film for torts lawyers. She may not have won the bull riding contest but she certainly should win the litigation contest with a dazzling display of gross negligence on the part of the rodeo.
As a threshold matter, courts often apply strict liability for wild animals. A bull can be domesticated but retain a dangerous propensity justifying strict liability. This is particularly the case when a flank strap is tied around it. However, strict liability (even if it were to apply in Mexico) has a defense for assumption of the risk.
The negligence side of the equation is particularly strong. The woman’s legs appear tied to the bottom of the bull. While she may have just got them caught, they look as if they were intentionally tied — a uniquely bad idea. Then there is the long period in which they seem unable to stop the bull despite her obvious peril. They only appear to have ropes to handle such an emergency. When they finally stop the animal, they pull him on top of the struggling woman.
Of course the greatest display of negligence is allowing a clear novice to get on to a giant bull like it was some mechanical bull at a bar (which has an adjustable difficulty switch and an emergency shutoff switch).
Is that the same as bullfighting? The bull wasn’t stupid the girl was, and so were the people who put her on the bull.
debra winger was sexier.
You can fault the rodeo organizers if you want.
The only way I would fault them is if the rider were a child. (She certainly looks like she could be)
My concern is the culture of violent sport – endangering a person and abusing an animal – that would allow this to happen in the first place.
The crowd – and the rider, if an adult – are assuredly complicit in this painful display of human rag-doll “sport.”
bettykath, I gained a lot of respect for the clowns as well as the riders. My respect for the clown was substantially diminished since I knew he lied under oath. However, of the clowns there, he was the best..very agile, quick, etc. His clown name was “Flippo”
Did she live? Where did this video come from?
nick, Good rodeo clowns are essential for the safety of the riders who, if they had any brains, wouldn’t be in the rodeo business. But since brains seem to be lacking (see above video), rodeo clowns are worth every penny they are paid. A clown wouldn’t have helped in the above situation b/c the woman couldn’t get free of the bull.
Libality insurance in Mexico? The person who tied the flank strap over the girls legs needs an a$$ kicking.
Could be assumption of risk…..
Surveillance has taken me to many places I would normally never go. I was assigned a case where a man was involved in an auto accident. He claimed he was totally disabled and unable to work. Indeed, he did quit his job as a carpenter. However, I learned he would work for cash as a rodeo clown. Hell, I didn’t even know there were rodeos in Wisconsin! Anyway, I attended a few videotaping this guy. I gained a lot of respect for these bull riders. What struck me is they all wore cowboy hats. If EVER there were a sport where helmets should be worn it’s bullriding. As I videotaped I wondered to myself, who the hell insures these events? I didn’t care enough to check it out.
JT, you should have a little more respect for The Presidential Debates. I stayed up way past my Hobbitual second breakfy to watch it. The debates are not just for the alchemists anymore.
Wow. She even appeared to loose consciousness at one point, flopping about like she had no control of her own body at all. That was staggeringly stupid.