Basketball Player Assumed Risk of Running Into Glass Doors Behind Baseline
The Second Department determined a basketball player assumed the risk of the injuries suffered when his arm went through a glass door located behind the baseline. The glass door constituted an open and obvious condition:
The doctrine of primary assumption of risk provides that “by engaging in a sport or recreational activity, a participant consents to those commonly appreciated risks which are inherent in and arise out of the nature of the sport generally and flow from such participation” … . This encompasses risks associated with the construction of the playing field, and any open and obvious conditions on it … . If the risks are known by or perfectly obvious to the participant, he or she has consented to them and the property owner has discharged its duty of care by making the conditions as safe as they appear to be.
Here, based in part on the proximity of the court to the entrance doors, the defendants established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by demonstrating that the injured plaintiff had assumed the obvious and inherent risk of coming into contact with the pane of glass in the entrance door by electing to play basketball on that court… . Perez v New York City Dept of Educ, 2014 NY Slip Op 02022, 2nd Dept 3-26-14