In 2017, plaintiff Ava Browne, 12, was at a summer sleep-away camp at Foxfield Riding School, in Westlake Village. At the camp, students would learn how to be strong riders by riding and jumping different horses, including horses with different personalities. On the fourth day of camp, during a lesson with Katelyn Puishys, an instructor at the riding school, Ava went over a jump on a school horse when it bucked by lowering its head and raising its hindquarters into the air while kicking out with the hind legs. As a result, Ave came off the horse and landed on her back and neck. She sustained to her neck. Ava, by and through her mother, Kelly Browne, sued Foxfield Riding School and Puishys. Ava alleged that the defendants were grossly negligent. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Puishys was grossly negligent for taking the beginner camper group out of a ring and into a cross-country field, where Ava was asked to make the horse jump a solid log that was about 20 inches high. Counsel also contended that Ava should not have been assigned the subject horse, as Ava had difficulty controlling it, and that Ava told Puishys that she was nervous about the horse and hesitant about the exercise. The plaintiff’s standard of care expert, a horse expert, opined that it was below the standard of care for a riding instructor to push a fearful riding student and have the student attempt a jump that the student felt unprepared to try. Defense counsel contended that the group of campers was a strong, lower-level group and that Ava had successfully made over multiple jumps in the riding ring and field prior to the subject log jump. Counsel also contended that Puishys encouraged Ava to try the subject log jump based on her assessment of Ava’s skills at that point and that Puishys felt that Ava was ready for it. Further, counsel contended that the school horse had no prior incidents of bucking and that Ava successfully jumped the log, but that the school horse did a small buck as it cantered away, which led to Ava losing her balance and falling off. In addition, defense counsel contended that the subject school horse had not exhibited any signs of freshness or difficulty during the lesson, up until the small buck at the end of the lesson. The defense’s standard of care expert, a horse expert, testified about prior videos of Ava riding similar ponies/horses, including videos of Ava successfully going over jumps higher than the subject log jump, prior to attending the camp at Foxfield. The expert opined that, based on the video evidence, Ava was capable of jumping her horse over the log and that it was within the standard of care for her instructor to encourage Ava to try it. Defense counsel noted that when Ava was being signed up for camp, her mother signed an application that included an express contractual liability waiver. The court ultimately found that the liability waiver was valid and that it applied to the subject accident and injury of Ava. As a result, a partial nonsuit was granted as to ordinary negligence after the plaintiff rested her case-in-chief. The matter then went to the jury on whether the plaintiff proved that either or both defendants were grossly negligent., Ava was initially only thought to be bruised, but she was eventually taken to a hospital the next day. An X-ray showed a cervical fracture of the C6 vertebra with a perched facet joint of the C5 vertebra sitting on top of the C6 vertebra. The resulted in a significant disruption of the stabilizing ligaments in her neck, making it unstable. Once the condition was diagnosed, Ava was strapped on a backboard and was kept immobile for 17 hours before the surgery on her neck. She ultimately underwent a reduction of the dislocation of the cervical spine and then a cervical fusion at the C5-6 level to stabilize the neck with hooks and a rod. The neck stabilized over the next three months, and Ava ultimately had a favorable recovery. However, she claimed that she would eventually require scar revision surgery on her neck. The parties stipulated that Ava’s past medical expenses totaled $48,998. Ava also sought recovery of $24,000 in future medical costs, $1 million in damages for her past pain and suffering, and $300,000 in damages for her future pain and suffering.