Appeals Court Reverses, Finding Assumption of Risk Doctrine Has Limits

A New York state appeals court has reversed a lower court and found that a student athlete did not assume the risk of injury when she participated in a soccer team practice that was held in a school hallway because it was raining outside. Thus, the court denied the school district’s motion to dismiss.   The student athlete was 12-years-old and a member of the girls' soccer team at Saxton Middle School in the Patchogue Medford School District of the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New