QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER A STEEL PLATE NEAR THE SIDELINE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD UNREASONABLY INCREASED THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined there was a question of fact whether a steel plate (covering a pole vault pit) unreasonably increased the risk of injury for high school football players. Plaintiff was tackled and struck the steel plate, which was several feet from the sideline:
“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'”… . “Participants are not deemed to have assumed the risks of reckless or intentional conduct, or concealed or unreasonably increased risks”… . Thus, “[a]n educational institution organizing a team sporting activity must exercise ordinary reasonable care to protect student athletes voluntarily participating in organized athletics from unassumed, concealed, or enhanced risks” … .
Here, the Supreme Court properly determined that the defendants failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. The defendants failed to eliminate a triable issue of fact as to whether the placement of the steel plate in the vicinity of the playing field unreasonably increased the risk of injury to the participants … . Deserto v Goshen Cent. Sch. Dist., 2017 NY Slip Op 06058, Second Dept 8-917
NEGLIGENCE (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER A STEEL PLATE NEAR THE SIDELINE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD UNREASONABLY INCREASED THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL (SECOND DEPT))/EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW (NEGLIGENCE, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER A STEEL PLATE NEAR THE SIDELINE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD UNREASONABLY INCREASED THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL (SECOND DEPT))/ASSUMPTION OF RISK (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER A STEEL PLATE NEAR THE SIDELINE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD UNREASONABLY INCREASED THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL (SECOND DEPT))/FOOTBALL (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER A STEEL PLATE NEAR THE SIDELINE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD UNREASONABLY INCREASED THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL (SECOND DEPT))