Sports Injuries

No Joy In Mudville: Plaintiff’s Case Strikes Out (NY)

In Chiaramonte v. Town of Smithtown, plaintiff was playing in a charity softball tournament sponsored by the defendants when she slipped on a muddy surface of one of the fields running from second to third base, allegedly injuring herself. The plaintiff subsequently commenced the instant action to recover damages for personal injuries against the defendants, alleging that they were negligent...Read More

Take Me Out To The Muddy Ballgame (NY)

This week, we bring you a slip and fall involving a softball game in Smithtown, NY. In Chiaramonte v. Town of Smithtown, 2021 NY Slip Op 01244 (2d Dept. 2021), defendants were granted summary judgment dismissal of all claims for a plaintiff who slipped and fell on muddy field conditions while she was playing a charity softball game organized by defendants. The defendants won dismissal by...Read More

Baseball Player Used Eye As Catcher’s Mitt, Assumed The Risk (NY)

In Grady v Chenango Valley Central School District, Plaintiff, then a high school senior and member of the Chenango Valley High School boys’ varsity baseball team, sustained permanent injuries to his right eye after being struck in the head by a baseball during a combined varsity and junior varsity outdoor baseball practice. Plaintiff commenced this action alleging that his injuries were...Read More

Watch Your Feet: Plaintiff Assumed Risk When Kicked In Head By Fellow Dancer (NY)

In Spruck v. Pollack and Academy of Dance Arts, plaintiff was allegedly injured while participating in a dance program run by defendants. During a rehearsal for a dance recital, plaintiff was participating in a choreographed dance when another dancer was spinning with her leg in the air and the other dancer’s foot came into contact with plaintiff’s head. Plaintiff continued with the...Read More

Sheaf Happens: Spectator Loses Due To Assumption Of Risk At Sheaf Tossing Competition (NY)

The sheaf toss is a traditional Scottish agricultural sport event originally contested at country fairs. A pitchfork is used to hurl a burlap bag stuffed with straw over a horizontal bar above the competitor’s head. Three chances are given to each competitor to cleanly go over the bar, without touching it. After all challengers have made their attempts, the bar is raised and all...Read More

A Good Walk Gone Bad: Golfer’s Claim Against Golf Course Dismissed (NY)

In Conrad v. Holiday Valley Inc., plaintiff slipped and fell on a stairway landing while playing golf at defendants’ golf course. He ascended a stairway used to access the tee box on the twelfth hole and then took a measurement from the tee box using his range finder. When he went to return to his golf cart, he stepped onto the landing at the top of the stairway, slipped on a wooden...Read More

Incidental Business Connections Are Insufficient to Establish Venue (PA)

The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently tackled a civil procedure issue that frequently crosses the minds of defense counsel: improper venue. According to Pa. R.C.P 1006(e), improper venue must be raised in the defendants’ preliminary objections to plaintiff’s complaint or the objection will be waived. In Kanevsky v. Revolution Ice Rink LLC, the plaintiff slipped and fell while playing ice...Read More

City Defendants Win Summary Judgment on Trivial Defect Defense (NY)

In Acevedo v. City of Yonkers, the infant plaintiff was allegedly injured when he was playing basketball in the street in front of his home, located in Yonkers, and tripped and fell over a water valve cap that was recessed into the street. The family brought suit against the City of Yonkers. The defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing contending that they did not receive prior written...Read More

Fore! Was the Swing Foreseeable? (NY)

In Carpaneto v. Middle Bay Golf Club, the Appellate Division, Second Department addressed whether the defendant, Middle Bay Golf Club, satisfied its duty of supervision over the children it was charged with training. Plaintiff, seven years old, participated in Junior Golf Day at the defendant’s club. Plaintiff was part of a group of children at the club’s chipping station where there were two...Read More

Plaintiff Cries Foul Over Wet Basketball Court (NY)

In Asprou v. Hellenic Orthodox Community of Astoria, the plaintiff was injured when he slipped and fell on water leaking from the roof of the defendants’ gymnasium while playing basketball at the defendants’ school. The school moved for summary judgment seeking to dismiss the complaint by arguing that the school did not create the dangerous condition or have actual or constructive...Read More