A New York state court judge has granted summary judgment to a youth sports organization, which was sued after a nine-year-old boy suffered an injury while horseplaying on a Lacrosse goal, which fell on top of him.
Specifically, the court found that the school district, which had rented the fields to the organization, was responsible for maintaining the fields “in a reasonably safe manner,” not the organization.
The infant plaintiff in the case was Michael Preston. The organization, or defendant for purposes of this opinion was Northport Lacrosse Club, Inc.
The incident occurred on September 20, 2009, while Preston was playing on a field at the William J. Brosnan School, which is owned and operated by defendant Northport-East Northport Union Free School District. Preston was there to watch his sister play in a soccer game organized by the Northport Youth Soccer Club. Preston testified that his older brother, Patrick, grabbed on to the cross bar that runs across the top of the lacrosse goal and used it to support his weight as he dangled his body down into the open part of the net. Copying his brother, Preston tried the same stunt. But the goal tipped over and fell on top of him, striking the front of his head.
Besides naming the school district and Northport Youth Soccer Club as defendants in the personal injury action, Preston also sued defendant Northport Lacrosse Club, Inc. for “breaching a duty to maintain the lacrosse goal in a reasonably safe condition. Northport Lacrosse Club (Northport Lax) operates a seasonal youth lacrosse league during the period from March 1 through June 15. Six months prior to infant plaintiff’s accident, in March 2009, the School District granted Northport Lax a field use permit allowing it to conduct lacrosse practices and games at the William J. Brosnan School, also referred to as the Laurel Avenue School. By their bill of particulars, the plaintiffs alleged, in part, that Northport Lax was negligent in failing to keep the premises, “including the lacrosse equipment and goals/cages thereat in a reasonably safe condition,” “in failing to properly secure the lacrosse equipment and goal/cage so as to avoid a known danger of the equipment/goal falling and/or tipping over,” “in failing to utilize ground anchors when installing and/or erecting the aforementioned lacrosse goal/cage,” “in failing to remove and/or restrict access to the aforesaid unsecured and unanchored lacrosse goal . . . knowing same was not safe and had a propensity to tip over,” and “in failing to barricade or block off the lacrosse goal or take it out of the play area.”
The plaintiffs also alleged that Northport Lax was negligent for “failing to heed” the recommendations of the National Federation of High School Associations that “an in-ground lacrosse goal, with 7 1/2 foot vertical posts inserted into a 1 1/2 foot by 2 inch sleeve, be used on natural surfaces or, if a flat iron goal is used, that such goal be attached to the ground with anchors.”
Northport Lax moved for summary judgment, arguing that it did not owe a duty of care to the infant plaintiff, since it did not own, place, repair or have control over the lacrosse goal involved in the accident. It further argued that “a decision by the School District’s Athletic Director to leave the lacrosse goal on the field at the William J. Brosnan School after the lacrosse season, so that lacrosse players could use it in the off season, did not create a duty on its part to insure the safety of people who came in contact with the goal. In support of its motion, Northport Lax submits copies of the pleadings and the bill of particulars, transcripts of plaintiffs’ 50-h hearing testimony, and transcripts of the parties’ deposition testimony.”
The plaintiffs countered that Northport Lax, “having been granted permission by the School District to use the field at the Brosnan School for lacrosse practice, had a duty to keep the lacrosse goal, which they describe as ‘an attractive nuisance to young children,’ in a reasonably safe condition.”
The court agreed with Northport Lax, writing that it had made “a prima facie showing of entitlement to summary judgment in its favor on the ground that it did not owe a duty of care to infant plaintiff, since it did not own, possess or control the school property on which infant plaintiff’s accident occurred, but merely had a license to use it for lacrosse practices and games (see Irizarry v Heller, 95 AD3d 951, 943 NYS2d 606 [2d Dept 2012]; Keating v Town of Burke, 86 AD3d 660, 927 NYS2d 411 [3d Dept 2011]; Grover v Mastic Beach Prop. Owners Assn., 57 AD3d 729, 869 NYS2d 593; Millman v Citibank, NA, 216 AD2d 278, 627 NYS2d 451; see also Gibbs v Port Auth. of N.Y., 17 AD3d 252, 794 NYS2d 320 [1st Dept 2005]). Furthermore, Northport Lax demonstrated that it did not owe a duty to keep the lacrosse goal, which was owned by the School District and left out on the fields by school personnel, in a reasonably safe condition (see Nielsen v Town of Amhest, 193 AD2d 1073, 598 NYS2d 878 [4th Dept 1993]; cf. Lynch v Sports, Leisure & Entertainment RPG, 71 AD3d 641, 896 NYS2d 413 [2d Dept 2010).
Michael Preston, an infant by his Mother and Natural guardian, Kristen Preston v. Northport-East Northport Union Free School District, Northport Lacross Club, Inc.; S. Ct. N.Y., Suffolk Co.; 2014 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1846; 2014 NY Slip Op 31026(U); 4/15/14,
Attorneys of Record: (for plaintiffs) Sullivan Papain Block Mcgrath & Cannavo, P.C., Garden City, New York. (for defendants) Devitt Spellman Barrett, LLP, Smithtown, New York and Mintzer, Sarowitz, Zeris, Ledva & Meyers, LLP, Hicksville, New York.
