Richard G. Mazze, a member of the varsity soccer team at Manhattanville College, allegedly sustained an injury to his back as he was performing a squat exercise during a weight training session. Mazze sued Manhattanville College, Manhattanville College Athletic Department and Manhattanville College Men’s Varsity Soccer.
Manhatanville moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint on the gound that the action was barred by the doctrine of assumption of risk. Supreme Court denied the motion. And Manhattanville appealed.
Supreme Court properly denied Manhattanville’s motion. Under the doctrine of primary assumption of risk, by engaging in a sport or recreational activity, a participant 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.
Participants properly may be held to have consented, by their participation, to those injury-causing events which are known, apparent, or reasonably foreseeable consequences of participation, but not to unassumed, concealed, or unreasonably increased risks. Although the doctrine of primary assumption of risk is applicable to a player who is injured while participating in a practice session, the doctrine applies only when the injury-producing risk is inherent in the sport the player is practicing.
Here, Manhattanville failed to establish that Mazze, by joining the soccer team, assumed the risk of a weightlifting injury or that such an injury was inherent in the sport of soccer. Moreover, they failed to eliminate all triable issues of fact as to whether they unreasonably increased the risk by failing to provide proper supervision and instruction—and whether Manhattanville compelled Maze to perform the squat exercise despite his expressed concerns when an assistant coach allegedly told him that he would be removed from the soccer team if he did not perform the squat exercise.