Court of Appeals of New York

In plaintiff's negligence suit to recover damages for her injuries sustained while rollerblading, the Appellate Division's reversal of the Supreme Court's dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) the doctrine of primary assumption of the risk does not preclude plaintiff's common-law negligence claim against the landowner defendants in this case; 2) as a general rule, application of assumption of the risk should be limited to cases appropriate for absolution of duty, such as personal injury claims arising from sporting events, sponsored athletic and recreation activities, or athletic and recreational pursuits that take place at designated venues; and 3) defendants are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of proximate causation where defendants did not advance the argument in their motion their duty to make the premises reasonably safe did not include a duty to alter the height differential at the base of their driveway to accommodate rollerblading.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/30/2012
• Published 10/30/2012

Judges

• Graffeo

Court

• Court of Appeals of New York

Counsel