A recent decision by the Appellate Division, Second Department, has applied the primary assumption of risk doctrine to an interscholastic, high school wrestling referee. Most cases involving high school athletes who are injured playing school sports are filed against school districts accused of lack of supervision. This decision, however, makes it clear that officials charged with refereeing school sports can also be shielded by the assumption of risk doctrine. Steven Rispoli v. Long Beach Union Free School District, Long Island Wrestling Officials Association, Inc. and Richard Petracca1 is a meaningful decision because the court declined the student-plaintiff’s invitation to impose a higher level of responsibility upon referees, than the athletes themselves, to insure that school sporting participants are not injured. (The author was counsel for the referee and the referees’ association.)
Primary Assumption of RIsk
According to the well-established and time-honored doctrine of primary assumption of risk, a person who voluntarily participates in a sporting activity generally consents, by his or her participation, to those injury-causing events, conditions, and risks which are inherent in the activity. Morgan v. State, 90 N.Y.2d 471, 484, 685 N.E.2d 202, 662 N.Y.S.2d 421 (1997). Risks inherent in the sporting activity are those which are known, apparent, natural, or reasonably foreseeable consequences of the participation. Turcotte v. Fell, 68 N.Y.2d 432, 439, 502 N.E.2d 964, 510 N.Y.S.2d 49 (1986).
