The plaintiffs sought damages arising from a catastrophic ATV crash involving an inexperienced adult rider on an unlit rural road with a sharp curve.
The court held that all defendants owed a prima facie duty of care, but only the boyfriend who had instructed and accompanied the rider breached the standard of care by allowing her to ride alone without adequate training, without a helmet, and toward a dangerous curve he knew she could not safely negotiate.
Applying the but for causation test, the court inferred from circumstantial and expert evidence that the accident was caused by the rider's inability to properly turn the ATV.
The claims against the owner and his spouse were dismissed, statutory owner liability was rejected, and contributory negligence was fixed at 10%.
