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PLAINTIFF, WHO TRIPPED AND FELL WHEN HE STEPPED INTO A LARGE CRACK, ASSUMED THE RISK OF PLAYING CRICKET ON A CITY-OWNED TENNIS COURT WITH AN IRREGULAR SURFACE; COMPLAINT PROPERLY DISMISSED; STRONG DISSENT (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, affirming the dismissal of the complaint, determined plaintiff assumed the risk of playing cricket on a city tennis court with a cracked surface. Judge Rivera, in an extensive dissenting opinion, argued that there is a question of fact whether the city failed to maintain the tennis court in a reasonably safe condition:

Plaintiff was injured while playing cricket on a tennis court in a park owned by the City of New York when he ran to catch a batted ball and stepped into a large crack in the asphalt. The Appellate Division correctly held that the risks of tripping and falling while playing on an irregular surface are inherent in the game of cricket … . There is no evidence in the record that the irregularity in the playing field—the cracked and uneven surface of the tennis court—unreasonably enhanced the ordinary risk of playing cricket on an irregular surface … . Defendants were therefore entitled to summary judgment dismissing the complaint on the ground that the primary assumption of risk doctrine precludes liability on the part of defendants.

From the dissent:

The primary assumption of risk doctrine does not completely displace a landowner’s traditional duty of care to maintain their premises in a safe condition. Tripping on a fissure that is allegedly the result of years of neglect is not a risk inherent to cricket, or any other sport, and defendants were therefore not entitled to summary judgment on the theory that plaintiff assumed the risk of injury by playing on a deteriorated surface. The majority empowers defendants to escape all accountability for their alleged negligence, which put plaintiff and other park users at risk of serious injury. Maharaj v City of New York, 2025 NY Slip Op 02143, CtApp 4-15-25

Practice Point: Here the assumption of the risk doctrine was deemed to outweigh any obligation on the city’s part to maintain the surface of a tennis court in a safe condition.

 

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