Exam A
Case #3:
non-profit horse rescue group admits members pursuant to rules that allow it to expel a mem- ber without a hearing for “just cause.” A member is sending out e-mails to non-members that accuse the organization of misdeeds and corruption. The group gives the member multiple verbal and written warnings to stop bad-mouthing it. Can the group expel the member without a hearing? Or does the legal concept of “due process” require that the member be given a pre-expulsion hearing?
a) Bad mouthing the group
to others is “just cause” and since the group’s rules allow it, the member can be expelled without a hearing. b) “Due process” requirements trump the group’s rules and the member can’t be expelled without an opportunity to be heard, no matter what she may have done. Innocent until proven guilty! c) It depends on what constitutes “just cause.”
The member sued after she was expelled, claiming
she was due notice and hearing before her member- ship could be terminated. A jury agreed. But the group successfully appealed. The appellate court concluded the group’s rules set forth an expulsion procedure and that it was “carried out in good faith.” The answer is (a).
Case #4: A
commercial horse boarding facility has a main barn building on its property, in addition to a
single-family residence in which the property own- ers live. The barn building contains 26 stalls and an indoor riding arena. On the second floor of that building, above the riding arena, there is an apart- ment with three bedrooms, a living room, bath- rooms with showers, a dining room, and a kitchen. The apartment houses barn help. Local zoning or- dinances prohibit occupancy of more than one resi- dential dwelling on the property. The locality noti- fies the property owners that the barn apartment cannot be used as residential housing. The property owners argue that because the facility operates in a
70 November/December 2018
Test Your Knowledge of Equine Law
state that has a “Right to Farm Act,” the locality’s zon- ing ordinances do not apply to it. The court holds that the proper inquiry is whether housing help is “necessary” to the business of boarding horses. Does the help have to move out, or not?
a) The help gets to stay. Twenty-six horses is a lot of horses, and everyone knows that horses basi- cally require round-the-clock supervision, or at least someone on-site who can check on them and respond to emergencies. b) The help has to go. The owners live
on-site and so having the help living in the barn structure is just a convenience, not a legal necessity. c) If there is a “Right to Farm Act,” then the
owners have an absolute legal right to con- duct their business however they see fit. In
other words, they (and not the court or the locality) get to decide what is “necessary” to their operation. The help stays. d) One employee gets to stay but the others must
go—having someone living on-site may be “neces- sary,” but having three people living on-site is overkill.
When the locality notified the company that the
barn apartment could not be used as living quarters, the company explained that the barn help needed to live on site to do “night check.” The courts held that it was not “necessary” to the boarding opera- tion that help live in the barn apartment. The court acknowledged that having someone (other than the owners) on-site to do night check was more a convenience to the owners than a “necessity.” The answer is (b).
Krysia Carmel Nelson is a Virginia at- torney who is a nationally-recognized expert in equine law. She represents horse owners, trainers, riders, breeders, equestrian facilities, farms, clubs and associations across all nationally and internationally recognized disciplines. She currently rides and competes her Hanoverian Affirmed on Appeal in the amateur hunters. She can be reached at
eqlaw@aol.com.
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