Signage Requirements Under Agritourism Liability Acts – What About Texas?
I recently co-authored an article for Southern Ag Today with my friend and colleague, Jesse Richardson, that raised an important question about signage required under state landowner liability statutes.
Agritourism Act Rulings in Virginia and Washington
In the Southern Ag Today article, we focused on two court decisions applying their state’s Agritourism Act. In Virginia, a trial court held that in order for the Virginia Agritourism Activity Act to apply, the signage should have been individually posted at each different agritourism activity. Posting one sign at the entrance of the property was held insufficient. In 2023, the Washington Court of Appeals reached a similar decision. To read the article and details about the cases, click here.
What Does this Mean for Texas?
Time will tell. Neither the Virginia ruling nor the Washington Court of Appeals decision are binding on Texas. Although similar, every state’s agritourism law has different language and may be interpreted differently by that individual state’s court.
In Texas, both the Texas Agritourism Act and the Texas Farm Animal Liability Act require signage to be posted.
Texas Agritourism Act
For the Texas Agritourism Act, an agritourism entity (this includes a rural landowner who opens his or her property for recreational or educational activities) may choose to either hang up the required signage or have agritourism activity participants sign an Agritourism Act release. For those choosing to hang the sign, the statute provides that the landowner must “post and maintain a sign in a clearly visible location on or near any premises on which an agritourism activity is conducted.”
How many signs need to be posted? Where, exactly, should they be placed? Is a separate sign necessary for each activity on a given property? Texas appellate courts have not answered any of these questions at this time. That leaves agritourism entities without additional guidance beyond the language of the statute.
Texas Farm Animal Liability Act
Although a separate statute, the Texas Farm Animal Liability Act (FALA) is an additional statutory protection for owners of farm animals in the event someone is injured during a farm animal activity. Like the Texas Agritourism Act, there is a signage requirement under the FALA as well. The FALA requires farm animal owners and lessees to post and maintain a FALA sign if they manage or control a farm, stable, corral, or arena where they conduct farm animal activities. The signs must be posted “in a clearly visible location on or near the stable, corral, or arena.” Again, there is no appellate case law further defining the meaning of this statutory language, or answering the question about where to place signs if someone were raising cattle in a pasture without the listed structures.
Key Takeaways
Although the out-of-state court decisions Jesse and I wrote about do not involve Texas law and are not binding on Texas courts, they do raise an important issue of how, when the time comes, Texas courts will answer these or similar questions. I always tell landowners it is a lot cheaper to pay for some extra signage than to face a lawsuit without the ability to use the Texas Agritourism Act or Texas Farm Animal Liability Act as a defense.
For additional information on these statutes:
