A New York state trial court has denied summary judgment to a high school and the school district it is situated in, finding that questions of fact remain about whether the defendants exercised “reasonable care.”
Patrick Schmidt, a student at Massapequa High School, was participating in a wrestling practice on January 22, 2008, when he allegedly suffered an injury. Vincent D’Agostino, the volunteer assistant coach, was overseeing the practice at the time. Head Coach Joe Catalanotto and Assistant Coach Ronny Cerano were in the wrestling room at the time of the accident, though Catalanotto actually witnessed the accident.
Schmidt sued, claiming the Massapequa Union Free School District and its agents, servants and employees:
• “were negligent, careless and reckless in allowing D’Agostino to enter and participate in school-sponsored wrestling practice;
• “that the Massapequa UFSD was negligent and careless in failing to properly control, manage and confine the wrestling practice to students and licensed coaches;
• “that the defendant Massapequa UFSD was negligent and careless in failing to properly train all coaches and wrestling team staff members and the defendant D’Agostino;
• “that the defendant Massapequa UFSD was negligent and careless in the supervision of the wrestling practice, that these defendants failed to avoid the occurrence;
• “that the defendant Massapequa UFSD was negligent and careless in allowing an adult man, specifically the defendant D’Agostino, who possessed markedly superior size, strength and skill, to participate in wrestling practice and in allowing defendant D’Agostino to wrestle teenage boys, and specifically the plaintiff herein;
• “that the defendant Massapequa UFSD within whose custody the then infant plaintiff was in at the time of the accident, failed to act as a reasonably prudent parent would have acted to ensure the welfare and safety of the infant plaintiff;
• “that the defendant Massapequa UFSD negligently and carelessly failed to provide a safe atmosphere and environment for the then infant plaintiff to participate in wrestling practice; and
• “that the defendant Massapequa UFSD failed in its non-delegable duty to keep the infant free from harm.
The plaintiff also accused D’Agostino of being “negligent and careless in that (he), a man of superior size, strength and wrestling skill, engaged wrestling team members and specifically this then infant plaintiff in wrestling practice;
• “that this untrained defendant in coaching youth wrestlers, thought himself qualified to participate in wrestling practice;
• “that this defendant created a dangerous and hazardous environment to the wrestlers and specifically the plaintiff by removing the individual wrestlers and specifically the plaintiff herein from wrestling with team members, and this defendant engaged the young wrestlers and performed physical acts upon these wrestlers and specifically the plaintiff herein, that were entirely inappropriate to perform and thereby created a hazardous and dangerous environment;
• “that on January 22, 2008, this defendant decided to and was allowed by the defendant Massapequa UFSD to participate in wrestling practice; and
• “that during this practice this defendant engaged the then infant plaintiff and picked the plaintiff up and forcibly threw the plaintiff to the ground, and this defendant’s body fell onto the body of the plaintiff causing injury.”
The court noted that “it is undisputed that the plaintiff was an experienced wrestler as he wrestled from 7th grade through 12th grade. At the time of the accident, Schmidt was 6’2″, weighed approximately 275 pounds and was on the varsity wrestling team. It is further undisputed that D’Agostino was a 2000 graduate of Massapequa High School and was considered a heavyweight. In January 2008, he was a voluntary assistant coach of the wrestling team at Massapequa. He was 27 years old and weighed 275 pounds.” Further, D’Agostino was nationally ranked when he wrestled in high school and college (Rider).
In response to the lawsuit, Massapequa UFSD and D’Agostino moved for summary judgment, arguing that Schmidt, “an experienced wrestler, assumed the foreseeable risk of injury by participating in wrestling practice.”
They also maintained that the plaintiff was “admittedly aware of defendant D’Agostino’s size, skill and experience before wrestling with him on the date of the incident, as he had wrestled with D’Agostino in countless prior occasions, but [that he] participated in the practice live-wrestling session with D’Agostino nonetheless.”
The court considered the assumption of risk argument, but also pointed out that “a school district remains under a duty to exercise ordinary reasonable care to protect the infant plaintiff from unassumed, concealed or unreasonably increased risks (Benitez v New York City Bd. of Educ, supra; Rawson v Massapequa Union Free School District, 251 AD2d 311, 674 N.Y.S.2d 388 [2nd Dept. 1998]; Muller v Spencerport Cent. School Dist, 55 AD3d 1388, 865 N.Y.S.2d 455 [4th Dept. 2008]), lv to app den. 57 A.D.3d 1531, 869 N.Y.S.2d 846 [4th Dept. 2008]).
“In the instant case, we find that an issue of fact exists as to whether reasonable care was exercised in the supervision of the live wrestling practice and whether D’Agostino’s conduct in permitting a mismatched exercise unreasonably increased the plaintiff’s risk of injury.”
Patrick Schmidt v. Massapequa High School et al.; S.Ct.N.Y., Nassau County; 2010 NY Slip Op 32396U; 2010 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4245; 8/31/10
