Sisters residents sues over trailer mishap

Sisters resident Anne Geser is one of two people suing SilverLite Trailers of Springfield for $37,000. The suit says that a horse was able to kick its way out of a defective trailer, falling into Portland rush-hour traffic and breaking both front legs. (See The Nugget, September 12, 2006.)

Geser is the owner of the three-horse SilverLite trailer, which she no longer uses.

On the morning of September 8, 2006, Geser's trailer was being used to transport three horses to a horse show in Washington. According to the complaint filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court, the gate between the middle and rear horse repeatedly came open. The rear horse began to kick at the door, which eventually buckled, allowing it to open.

Geser said that when a structural engineer looked at the trailer after the accident, he noted that the latch holding the divider gate shut was faulty. Each time the middle horse would lean on it, which happens when horses balance themselves in a trailer, it would come open.

Apparently, the horses finally had enough of being banged by the gate and began kicking. The force of that kicking ripped the matting on the inside wall of the trailer and caused such trauma to the rear door that it folded and then came open. The engineer also noted that the doors were initially latched correctly, with extra clips on the rear door for safety.

The point of the suit, according to Geser, isn't to recoup a lot of money. The dollar amount covers the loss of the horse, the trailer and medical costs for the surviving horses.

"It will never change the mental cost," said Geser.

It is an attempt to force the company to acknowledge faulty workmanship and upgrade their inspection process. Geser said that to her knowledge, no one from the company ever came to look at the trailer after the accident.

"I learned," siad Geser, "that we need to try all the little things in our trailers and be alert."