QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OPERATOR OF A SKATING RINK PROVIDED PROPER SUPERVISION AND THEREFORE WHETHER THE ASSUMPTION OF RISK DOCTRINE APPLIED, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED SHE WAS PUSHED TO THE ICE BY AN UNRULY SKATER (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the defendant town, owner-operator of a skating rink, did not eliminate all questions of fact about whether it provided proper supervision at the rink. Therefore there was a question of fact whether the doctrine of assumption of the risk applied. Plaintiff alleged she was pushed to the ice by an unruly skater:
Participants in sports or recreational activities “will not be deemed to have assumed . . . unreasonably increased risks” … . “Thus, where reckless behavior that is over and above the usual dangers inherent in the activity of skating is claimed to have caused the injury, the issue of whether the proprietor was negligent in supervising the skaters turns on whether the proprietor had sufficient notice of the allegedly reckless conduct so as to permit it to prevent the injury through the exercise of adequate supervision” … . “The duration and nature of the allegedly reckless conduct are factors that bear on this issue” … .
Here, the defendant failed to establish, prima facie, that the action was barred by the doctrine of primary assumption of risk … . The defendant’s submissions failed to eliminate all triable issues of fact as to whether the risk was unreasonably increased by the defendant’s alleged failure to properly supervise the skaters such that the doctrine of primary assumption of risk would not apply … . Laurent v Town of Oyster Bay, 2018 NY Slip Op 05028, Second Dept 7-5-18
NEGLIGENCE (QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OPERATOR OF A SKATING RINK PROVIDED PROPER SUPERVISION AND THEREFORE WHETHER THE ASSUMPTION OF RISK DOCTRINE APPLIED, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED SHE WAS PUSHED TO THE ICE BY AN UNRULY SKATER (SECOND DEPT))/ICE SKATING (QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OPERATOR OF A SKATING RINK PROVIDED PROPER SUPERVISION AND THEREFORE WHETHER THE ASSUMPTION OF RISK DOCTRINE APPLIED, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED SHE WAS PUSHED TO THE ICE BY AN UNRULY SKATER (SECOND DEPT))/ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK (ICE-SKATING, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OPERATOR OF A SKATING RINK PROVIDED PROPER SUPERVISION AND THEREFORE WHETHER THE ASSUMPTION OF RISK DOCTRINE APPLIED, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED SHE WAS PUSHED TO THE ICE BY AN UNRULY SKATER (SECOND DEPT))/MUNICIPAL LAW (ICE-SKATING, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OPERATOR OF A SKATING RINK PROVIDED PROPER SUPERVISION AND THEREFORE WHETHER THE ASSUMPTION OF RISK DOCTRINE APPLIED, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED SHE WAS PUSHED TO THE ICE BY AN UNRULY SKATER (SECOND DEPT))/SUPERVISION (NEGLIGENCE, ICE-SKATING, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OPERATOR OF A SKATING RINK PROVIDED PROPER SUPERVISION AND THEREFORE WHETHER THE ASSUMPTION OF RISK DOCTRINE APPLIED, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED SHE WAS PUSHED TO THE ICE BY AN UNRULY SKATER (SECOND DEPT))