By Gary Chester, Senior Writer
Owners and users of recreational facilities have a common law duty to provide a safe premises.
This includes sufficient lighting, safe equipment, and adequate security for the protection of fans, participants, and officials. A Florida case raises an unusual issue: Does a sports venue have a duty to prevent players from one team from attacking their opponents after the game has concluded?
That is the central issue in Juan Sebastian Bonilla Marentes v. Orlando Indoor Soccer, LLC and HMP Investment Inc., a civil lawsuit filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Orange County, Florida, on August 25, 2022.
The Facts
The plaintiff is an amateur soccer player who participated in a match against a Chilean team at the Orlando (Fla.) Indoor Soccer (OIS) facility on July 18, 2021. According to the Complaint, Marentes and his Orlando Red teammates were in one of the common areas of OIS when players from the opposing team “began to punch and kick players from ‘Orlando Red’ on the premises and brutally attacked Plaintiff…[causing] multiple injuries…which required emergency medical care.”
The complaint alleges that OIS and HMP Investment are owners of the recreational soccer premises in Orlando that have a non-delegable duty to provide reasonably safe premises to invitees and others. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants should have known of the risk of criminal attacks on persons at OIS “based on the history of criminal activity on the subject premises and in the general vicinity of the subject premises.”
The defendants were allegedly negligent in supervising OIS by failing to provide adequate security personnel, failing to monitor the effectiveness of the security plan of its agents and tenants, allowing a named player onto the premises while being aware of his propensity for criminal activities, and otherwise.
Marentes seeks damages for unpaid medical expenses and compensatory damages for pain and suffering.
The plaintiff is represented by Michael Singh and Matthew McNamara of the SSM Law Group in Winter Park, Florida. The defendants have not yet filed their answers to the complaint.
