PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF BEING STRUCK BY A BASEBALL DURING TRYOUTS CONDUCTED IN THE GYMNASIUM DUE TO WEATHER.
The Third Department determined defendant school district was entitled to summary judgment in this sports injury case. Plaintiff (Legac) was struck in the face by a baseball during tryouts held in the gymnasium (due to weather). The Third Department held that the school district demonstrated plaintiff had assumed the risk of injury. He was an experienced baseball player and was aware of the way the baseball was being hit by the coach and the way the baseball reacted when striking the gymnasium floor:
While Legac testified that he believed that Potter was hitting the ball “too hard” and that the baseball traveled faster on the gymnasium floor than it would have on a baseball field, such conditions were open and obvious and clearly appreciated by Legac, who had the opportunity to watch the players ahead of him complete the ground ball fielding drill and had observed the ball interact with the flooring over three days of indoor tryouts … . Inasmuch as the conditions inherent in the indoor ground ball fielding drill were readily apparent to Legac and the risk of being struck by a ball was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of engaging in that drill, we find that defendants established their prima facie entitlement to summary judgment dismissing the complaint … . Legac v South Glens Falls Cent. Sch. Dist., 2017 NY Slip Op 04182, 3rd Dept 5-25-17
NEGLIGENCE (PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF BEING STRUCK BY A BASEBALL DURING TRYOUTS CONDUCTED IN THE GYMNASIUM DUE TO WEATHER)/EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW (SPORTS, PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF BEING STRUCK BY A BASEBALL DURING TRYOUTS CONDUCTED IN THE GYMNASIUM DUE TO WEATHER)/ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF BEING STRUCK BY A BASEBALL DURING TRYOUTS CONDUCTED IN THE GYMNASIUM DUE TO WEATHER)/BASEBALL (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, SPORTS, PLAINTIFF ASSUMED THE RISK OF BEING STRUCK BY A BASEBALL DURING TRYOUTS CONDUCTED IN THE GYMNASIUM DUE TO WEATHER)