A client of Schelstraete, (hereafter referred to as ‘A’)was again vindicated by the Court of Appeal on August 5th 2014.
The case concerned a swap of two horses between ‘A’ and the counterparty (hereafter referred to as ‘B’ ). In October 2008 ‘B’ offered his horse for sale. ‘A’ was interested and they made an agreement that ‘A’ would give her horse Z and € 3.000,- in exchange for the horse of B, X. Shortly after this exchange, ‘A’ discovered that there was an injury to the right hind leg of horse X, which causes an increased risk of lameness. According to the veterinarian of ‘A’, this injury was present before A had purchased the horse from B.
In order to make the exchange undone, ‘A’ started litigation against ‘B’ early 2009. After a long process of almost two years, ‘A’ was vindicated by the District Court with the result that ‘B’ was obliged to take horse X back from ‘A’ and he had to return horse Z to ‘A’. In the meantime ‘B’ had already sold horse ‘Z, for this reason B must pay a replacement value of € 16.000.
‘B’ did not agree with the decision of the District Court and decided to Appeal against this ruling. In Appeal ‘B’ argued that the District Court wrongfully determined that horse X was unhealthy due to the injury on the right hind leg and that the replacement value of the horse of € 16,000 was not duly motivated. Furthermore, in Appeal ‘B’ objected against the expert who was appointed by the District Court.
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal rejects all claims of ‘B’ and confirms the decision of the previous Court. In addition to the damages which ‘B’ already was required to pay ‘A’, ‘B’ is also ordered to pay the legal costs that were made during the Appeal. Altogether a very positive outcome for the client of European Equine Lawyers.
A was assisted by Mr. L.M. Schelstraete and Ms. Mr. B.E.J. Loeffen from Schelstraete.
