Practice point: A voluntary participant in a sporting or recreational activity consents to those commonly appreciated risks which are inherent in and arise out of the nature of the sport generally and flow from such participation.
Student note: This includes risks associated with the condition of the surface on which the activity is performed, and any open and obvious condition thereon. If the risks are known by or perfectly obvious to the participant, he or she is deemed to have consented to them, and the property owner has discharged its duty of care by making the conditions as safe as they appear to be.
Case: Nigro v. New York Racing Assn., Inc., NY Slip Op 01660 (2d Dept. 2012).
Here is the decision.
Tomorrow’s issue: Collateral estoppel
