Primary Assumption of Risk Prohibited Suit by Student Softball Player Injured When Struck by the Ball

The Second Department determined an eighth-grade experienced softball player assumed the risk of being hit by the ball, noting that the supervisor’s temporary absence from the field was not the proximate cause of the injury.  The court provided a thorough explanation of the primary assumption of risk doctrine:

Under the doctrine of primary assumption of risk, a person who voluntarily participates in a sporting activity generally consents, by his or her participation, to those injury-causing events, conditions, and risks which are inherent in the activity … . Risks inherent in a sporting activity are those which are known, apparent, natural, or reasonably foreseeable consequences of the participation … . Since the determination of the existence and scope of a duty of care requires “an examination of plaintiff’s reasonable expectations of the care owed him [or her] by others” …, the plaintiff’s consent does not merely furnish the defendant with a defense, it eliminates the duty of care that would otherwise exist. Accordingly, when a plaintiff assumes the risk of participating in a sporting event, “the defendant is relieved of legal duty to the plaintiff; and being under no duty, he [or she] cannot be charged with negligence” … . It is not necessary to the application of the doctrine that the injured plaintiff should have foreseen the exact manner in which the injury occurred “so long as he or she is aware of the potential for injury of the mechanism from which the injury results”… . Cruz v Longwood Cent Sch Dist, 2013 NY Slip Op 06541, 2nd Dept 10-9-13