KAYSVILLE -- The owners of a Utah horse farm have filed a lawsuit against Utah Power, claiming a faulty power line killed a horse worth $1.4 million.
Blue Blood Farms of Kaysville says the 12-year-old horse, Digression, was electrocuted April 23 when a 44,000-volt line fell in its paddock. Utah Power was negligent in its maintenance of the power line, which had fallen previously just two months before, according to the lawsuit filed in 2nd District Court.Utah Power contends high winds -- up to 100 mph that day in Davis County -- brought the line down.
"We cannot guarantee protection against every act of nature," said Utah Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen.
Blue Blood's attorney, Robert Sykes, said the same line previously fell onto a tractor carrying three workers.
"That line should never have come down twice in a two-month period," Sykes said. "That implies the line was never fixed properly."
The lawsuit claims Digression was bringing in $5,000 for each breeding, with as many as 80 stud opportunities a year.
"That horse was responsible for a quarter of our yearly income," said Nick Plummer, president of Blue Blood Farms.