DEFENDANT HEAVY METAL CLUB DID NOT DEMONSTRATE PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF COLLIDING WITH A SLAM DANCER, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED.
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant heavy metal club did not demonstrate plaintiff assumed the risk of colliding with a slam dancer. Plaintiff was not participating in the slam dancing:
The doctrine of primary assumption of risk “applies when a consenting participant in a qualified activity is aware of the risks; has an appreciation of the nature of the risks; and voluntary assumes the risks'” … . A person who chooses to engage in such an 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” … . The doctrine has generally been restricted “to particular athletic and recreative activities in recognition that such pursuits have enormous social value’ even while they may involve significantly heightened risks'” … , and are, therefore, “worthy of insulation from a breach of duty claim” … . Here, even assuming, without deciding, that attending a heavy metal concert where slam dancing takes place is a qualified activity to which the doctrine may properly be applied … , under the facts presented, the defendants, as the organizers and sponsors of the event, failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether they met their duty to exercise care to make the conditions at the subject venue as safe as they appeared to be … and did not unreasonably increase the usual risks inherent in the activity of concert going … . Brosnan v 6 Crannell St., LLC, 2017 NY Slip Op 01840, 2nd Dept 3-15-17
NEGLIGENCE (DEFENDANT HEAVY METAL CLUB DID NOT DEMONSTRATE PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF COLLIDING WITH A SLAM DANCER, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED)/ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK (SLAM DANCING, (DEFENDANT HEAVY METAL CLUB DID NOT DEMONSTRATE PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF COLLIDING WITH A SLAM DANCER, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED)/SLAM DANCING (DEFENDANT HEAVY METAL CLUB DID NOT DEMONSTRATE PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF COLLIDING WITH A SLAM DANCER, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED)