Questions of Fact Raised About Whether Student Assumed the Risk of Injury from Indoor Soccer Practice–Relevant Law Discussed In Some Depth

The Second Department reversed Supreme Court's grant of summary judgment to the school finding that questions of fact had been raised about whether plaintiff-student assumed the risk of injury.  Because it was raining, soccer practice was held indoors.  As part of the indoor practice, plaintiff was asked to sprint down a hallway and was told the loser in each pair of sprinters would be required to run laps up and down stairs.  Plaintiff was injured when she was unable to stop after passing the finish line and struck her head on the wall just beyond the finish line:

The doctrine of primary assumption of risk is not a defense based on a plaintiff's culpable conduct, but, rather, is a measure of the defendant's duty of care to participants in certain types of athletic or recreational activities … . “Under this theory, a plaintiff who freely accepts a known risk commensurately negates any duty on the part of the defendant to safeguard him or her from the risk'” … . “Because determining 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” … .

“As a general rule, application of assumption of the risk should be limited to cases appropriate for absolution of duty, such as personal injury claims arising from sporting events, sponsored athletic and recreative activities, or athletic and recreational pursuits that take place at designated venues” … . Here, there is no dispute that the infant voluntarily participated on her school's soccer team, a sponsored athletic activity.

“Pursuant to the doctrine of primary assumption of risk, a voluntary participant in a sporting or recreational activity, 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” … .

“…[I]n assessing whether a defendant has violated a duty of care within the genre of tort-sports activities and their inherent risks, the applicable standard should include whether the conditions caused by the defendants' negligence are unique and created a dangerous condition over and above the usual dangers that are inherent in the sport” … . * * *

…”[T]the primary assumption of risk doctrine does not serve as a bar to liability if the risk is unassumed, concealed, or unreasonably increased” … . “[A]wareness of risk is not to be determined in a vacuum. It is, rather, to be assessed against the background of the skill and experience of the particular plaintiff” … .

“[A] board of education, its employees, agents and organized athletic councils must exercise ordinary reasonable care to protect student athletes voluntarily involved in extracurricular sports from unassumed, concealed or unreasonably increased risks” … . Braile v Patchogue Medford School Dist of Town of Brookhaven, 2014 NY Slip OP 08949, 2nd Dept 12-24-14