A rare outbreak of judicial common sense:
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that a woman injured by a foul ball at baseball game can't sue over her injuries.
The court's 3-0 Friday ruling says no trial is needed because foul balls' dangers are well-known and baseball fans have an obligation to protect themselves.
Goes against the "no risk shall be tolerated" trend, doesn't it?
Comments
The dangers presented by drunk drivers are well known. Someone who is watching TV in their living room when a drunk driver misses a turn and crashes into the house, turning him into a quadriplegic, should be unable to sue for damages because he has a duty to protect himself.
He probably ought to sit in the front yard and shoot any cars which appear to be traveling more than 15 MPH with a bazooka, just as a woman who fears rape defends herself by shooting any guy in the face if he walks in her direction.
For what it's worth, there's nothing new about baseball fans being required to assume the risks of foul balls - or of over-the-fence home runs, for that matter.
And Wilbur Brink, a 12-year-old sitting in his garden at 2316 Georgetown Road, Speedway, was killed when Billy Arnold's rear axle broke on the fourth turn of lap 162 of the 1931 Indy 500. Arnold, the defending champion was leading by five laps at the time.. The car went over the wall, the wheel bounced over the fence, and rolled down the road quite a ways until it entered the Brinks' garden. The kid was briefly revived at the infield medical facilities, but died several hours later in the hospital.
Eddie Rickenbacher absorbed the cost of treating Brink in the infield, and he sent flowers to the funeral, but didn't even pay for the funeral. If you move to a town called Speedway, you assume certain risks. There are 9 spectators who've died during the 600, the last being Lyle Kurtenbach in 1987. Hs widow sued for $9 million against IMS, Goodyear, March Engineering, USAC and Tony Bettenhausen, but settled for an undisclosed amount before it came up to court.
On the other hand, when the state fairground coliseum grandstands blew up in 1963, te victims and survivors eventually shared $4.6 million. I guess explosions aren't a foreseeable danger associated with Holiday On Ice.