My husband and myself along with our 9 yr old daughter have been living at our present residence for almost 2 yrs now. My husband just bought me 2 miniature horses, and made a fence around our back property. After having the horses for almost 3 months our neighbor has an adjoining flied to ours and he has full size horses.
First he stopped me by myself and told me that he had horses first and that I could not have an uncasterated male on my property. I checked into this and there is nothing in the and there is nothing in Arkansas Equine law that states this. He later stopped me again, and told me that if I did not get rid of my male horse he would see to it that it got onto his property and he would shoot him. I went to the police about this, and after they talked to him he came back to my property and started cutting MY fences!! I went back to the police, and they made a criminal mischievous report. HE later approached me and my daughter when my husband was not at home, and told me that me and my lying mouth have been warned. Again I went to the police and they told him that HE needed to stay away from us, and leave us alone. Well now (we live at the end of a dead end dirt road) he will ride his 4-wheeler past our house real slow, and throw beer bottles into our front yard, and has even shoveled horse manure onto our side of the property line. This is starting to wear on my nerves :mad: To the point that I am not comfortable with me and my daughter being by ourselves when my husband has to work... I need any advise that I can get... Please help...

My neighbor told my husband that he was going to sue us because he locked HIS horse in HIS barn and she done some kind of damage to it. He said that because of my male miniature horse whinning made her do it so we were responsible for the damages. Is this a legit claim?

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Originally Posted by mmgriffith

My neighbor told my husband that he was going to sue us because he locked HIS horse in HIS barn and she done some kind of damage to it. He said that because of my male miniature horse whinning made her do it so we were responsible for the damages. Is this a legit claim?

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In one word - no.

Your posts should be combined. I answered the other post and it leaves out a lot of this info -

If you are allowed to shoot on your property, maybe your husband can show you how to use the shotgun. Hopefully when the neighbor can see it. Seriously, start taking pictures of his misdeeds and report him with proof to the cops. This guy is a bully and will not stop until he is forced to. You might even consider installing security cameras around your home and seeing into a security patrol. No amount of money is worth your safety. Even without pictures, document everything he says to you in a diary and write down the time and details. A diary, done daily may be used in court if needed. I think this guy is a bag of wind, is the reason he threatens you when your husband is gone, but safety is a prime concern.

From my observations in small claims court in my state, the legitimacy of a claim is determined by the presiding judge in his/her ruling.

Judges can be unpredictable. They are human with their own personality quirks like the rest of us. Those quirks can impact their interpretation of the law and their application of it to evidence and testimony.

If I had to deal with such a claim which, indeed, reached the court, I would wish to be prepared with an effective defense.

Personally, I would hope that my neighbor and I could be neighbors with each other and that we could avoid such judicial "horsing around."

If the neighbor does not cool off before pressing the issue in court, maybe mediation could be helpful to promote "being neighbors."

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Originally Posted by IM4U

From my observations in small claims court in my state, the legitimacy of a claim is determined by the presiding judge in his/her ruling.

Judges can be unpredictable. They are human with their own personality quirks like the rest of us. Those quirks can impact their interpretation of the law and their application of it to evidence and testimony.

If I had to deal with such a claim which, indeed, reached the court, I would wish to be prepared with an effective defense.

Personally, I would hope that my neighbor and I could be neighbors with each other and that we could avoid such judicial "horsing around."

If the neighbor does not cool off before pressing the issue in court, maybe mediation could be helpful to promote "being neighbors."

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And I must disagree - I cannot think of any Judge in any Court who would decide that a horse doing what horses do - making horse noises - would be responsible for another horse damaging his/her owner's property. I see a stern lecture about wasting the Court's time.

And as far as Judges being predictable with quirks that impact their interpretation of the law and their application of it concerning evidence and testimony - there is no negligence here. What evidence and testimony do you think the Judge is going to allow?

This is horses being horses. There is no law to interpret. There's no negligence. There are no deliberate acts. There are no laws being broken.

Mediation? Have you read the other posts?

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Originally Posted by westnlas

If you are allowed to shoot on your property, maybe your husband can show you how to use the shotgun. Hopefully when the neighbor can see it. Seriously, start taking pictures of his misdeeds and report him with proof to the cops. This guy is a bully and will not stop until he is forced to. You might even consider installing security cameras around your home and seeing into a security patrol. No amount of money is worth your safety. Even without pictures, document everything he says to you in a diary and write down the time and details. A diary, done daily may be used in court if needed. I think this guy is a bag of wind, is the reason he threatens you when your husband is gone, but safety is a prime concern.

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This is bad legal advice - show someone who is unstable a shotgun and how do you think he's going to respond? With a bigger shotgun.

Yes, keep a diary, video (if it isn't going to inflame the situation), keep calling the Police.

Posts combined,

A person can sue another person about anything, but this case has no merits

I was thinking of criminal prosecution for the threats and harassment rather than civil proceedings. I do think that if this bully knew that she is capable of protecting herself, he may very well limit his harassment to property damage and limit the threats. Every bully I ever met held back when stood up to. Anyway, this has gone way beyond the horse issue. It is a matter of imposing fear into her and her family. It must be stopped. A diary may show a judge that the individual has a history of these acts and gain him a jail sentence rather than probation or a fine. I am sorry I didn't make it clearer from the outset.

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Originally Posted by westnlas

I was thinking of criminal prosecution for the threats and harassment rather than civil proceedings. I do think that if this bully knew that she is capable of protecting herself, he may very well limit his harassment to property damage and limit the threats. Every bully I ever met held back when stood up to. Anyway, this has gone way beyond the horse issue. It is a matter of imposing fear into her and her family. It must be stopped. A diary may show a judge that the individual has a history of these acts and gain him a jail sentence rather than probation or a fine. I am sorry I didn't make it clearer from the outset.

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I notice that you've appeared in 5 threads immediately behind me, far ranging threads from advice on dogs to criminal advice to piercing your navel. Seems odd that we would be walking the same route, you right behind me, so I would make a guess that somehow I've offended you so you are going to continue to follow me around - it's obvious because I've been keeping an eye on your profile, what you are checking, what you are reading and answering.

I think I'm going over to missing persons now - want to come with me or just follow me there?

I think west is right if he saw you and your husband target shooting and new that you were not helpless and that you do in fact have protection available and know how to use it, the bully may back off. Don't even look his way or look threatening just let it be known that you have protection and know how to use it. Also a video camera set up and on hand is a good idea.

I had a neighbor like this. The police tried to help, but the guy didn't listen to the police and kept harassing me, breaking my fense down... leaving me harassing notes. I went to see a lawyer and the lawyer thought it was funny. Needless to say, I moved... I was so sad it was my dream house. By the time I finally couldn't take it anymore, I was so stressed that I just bought any house to get out quickly. Well, I did myself a disservice. It is such a tricky situation and I still spend some time thinking about it. He is onto harassing the next woman who lives in the development, spraying her lab with deer urine, putting hot stuff down so the dog steps in it,and his paws get hurt, has cameras all over and when people leave, he punctures tires. I will tell you I am astounded that the system doesn't protect people better. Here is what I would have done in retrospect... I would have written to DRPHIL.com
I think he would do a story on difficult and harassing situations, actually a whole seriers of shows say 6 shows. We are talking about peoples homes, their sense of peace after a long day. We are supposed to have the right of quiet enjoyment. Isn't that in the consititution. Anyway, write Dr. Phil and let me know I would be happy to tell my story too and I am sure the new person that the guy is harassing would tell her side too.