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14-YEAR-OLD PLAYING CATCH ON A SCHOOL ATHLETIC FIELD ASSUMED THE RISK OF INJURY FROM A TWO TO FIVE INCH DEPRESSION IN THE FIELD (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, over an extensive dissent, determined that the primary assumption of risk doctrine applied to a 14-year-old experienced football player who was injured by stepping into a 2 to 5 inch depression in a school athletic field. The majority distinguished the condition here, part of the natural features of a grass field, and a condition resulting from disrepair:

The plaintiffs described the grass field on which the accident occurred as “choppy,” “wavy,” and “bumpy,” with several depressions. In other words, the topography of the grass field on which the infant plaintiff was playing was irregular. The risks posed by playing on that irregular surface were inherent in the activity of playing football on a grass field … . Moreover, the infant plaintiff’s testimony demonstrated that he was aware of and appreciated the inherent risks, and that the irregular condition of the field was not concealed … .

Like our dissenting colleague, we acknowledge the Court of Appeals’ admonition that the doctrine of primary assumption of risk “does not exculpate a landowner from liability for ordinary negligence in maintaining a premises” … . Thus, the doctrine does not necessarily absolve landowners of liability where they have allowed certain defects, such as a hole in a net in an indoor tennis court, to persist … . In this case, we do not determine the doctrine’s applicability to similar to that of a hole in an indoor tennis net, as there is a distinction between accidents resulting from premises having fallen into disrepair and those resulting from natural features of a grass field … . Ninivaggi v County of Nassau, 2019 NY Slip Op 08568, Second Dept 11-27-19

 

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