Bison and Harley Davisons
Recently my client was driving his Harley home at night and a Bison charged out on the dark road. My client has no memory of the accident. The result was the death of the Bison and my client almost losing his life. By courageous efforts, his physician saved his leg. In Texas livestock can roam on Farm to Market Roads with impunity unless there is an election in the county to change the law. Fortunately the dark road was not a Farm to Market Road. The distinction as to whether a Bison could be considered live stock as contemplated by the statute. Next the question is whether a Bison is by its nature a wild ferocious beast, (ferae naturae). Strict liability law governs such situations. It was problematic to draw the Bison into this law since there was no evidence that the accident occurred due to the ferocious, wild nature of this Bison. Now one knows how long the beast was out or how it got out. The best logic for the plaintiff was a version of the special laws dealing with wild animals. The Bison is a great athlete. It can run faster and jump higher than a horse. The negligence for the landowner is that Bison could not be prudently be pastured in a pasture contiguous to a public road with marginal cattle fences. At the least the border fences should have been six feet or higher and reinforced. We settled while the jury was deliberating
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