Opinion ID: 1916048
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Assumption of the Risk Points for Charge

Text: Appellant submitted points for charge, all of which were refused by the trial court, outlining two basic and distinct theories of assumption of risk. The first is that which we have set forth above in our discussion of appellant's request for judgment n.o.v., which centers on the limitations on a possessor of land's duty to protect business invitees. [1] The limitation on which appellant relies relieves a possessor of land of any duty to protect an invitee against known or obvious hazards existing on the land. Carrender v. Fitterrer, supra . As we have stated above, appellant argues that all of the characteristics of appellant's premises that appellee alleges to have been defective and the cause of his injuries were known by or obvious to appellee and that, therefore, appellant had no duty to protect appellee against them. As a corollary to this argument, appellant also argues that appellee was injured as a result of certain hazards inherent in the activity of roller skating, against which appellant had no duty to protect appellee. We shall refer to these as appellant's no duty arguments. Lastly, appellant argues that appellee's testimony established that he was in fact aware of the six-inch drop-off, the wide rail opening, and the layout of the vending machine area, and knew that he was unskilled as a skater, yet voluntarily chose to skate at Radnor Rolls and thus encounter these hazards. This, appellant contends, constituted sufficient evidence of appellee's own subjective knowledge of the risks involved to warrant submission of the defense of assumption of risk to the jury. These two concepts  one, that a possessor of land has no duty toward a business invitee to guard him against obvious dangers or the risks of an activity generally known to be dangerous, and two, that plaintiff assumed the risk of his injuries by voluntarily encountering a known danger  have often been considered to be simply two different types of the defense of assumption of the risk. Recently, however, courts have clarified that the first concept, the no duty concept, is distinct from the defense of assumption of the risk. See Bowser v. Hershey Baseball Assoc., 357 Pa.Super. 435, 516 A.2d 61 (1986). The no duty concept involves a finding that the defendant had no duty to the plaintiff and, therefore, was not negligent. The defendant is not liable regardless of whether defendant could successfully raise the assumption of the risk defense. In the second category, the defendant owed a duty but may be relieved of liability because the plaintiff assumed the risk. We will examine the way in which these two concepts are conceptually different, involving as they do different legal standards, different evidence, and different burdens of proof. Although both concepts have been classified as species of assumption of the risk, for purposes of clarity it would be preferable to view the first concept as the no duty theory and the second as the assumption of the risk defense. Cases in which the defendant is found to have no duty toward the plaintiff typically involve a possessor of land defendant and a business invitee plaintiff. Carrender v. Fitterer, 503 Pa. 178, 469 A.2d 120 (1983); Jones v. Three Rivers Management Corp., 483 Pa. 75, 394 A.2d 546 (1978); Bowser v. Hershey Baseball Assoc., 357 Pa.Super. 435, 516 A.2d 61 (1986). These cases establish that a possessor of land has no duty to protect a business invitee against known or obvious hazards. For a danger to be known to the invitee, it must not only be known to exist, but . . . also be recognized that it is dangerous and the probability and gravity of the threatened harm must be appreciated. Carrender v. Fitterer, 503 Pa. at 185, 469 A.2d at 124 (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 343A comment b). A danger is deemed to be obvious when both the condition and the risk are apparent to and would be recognized by a reasonable man, in the position of the visitor, exercising normal perception, intelligence, and judgment. Id., 503 Pa. at 185, 469 A.2d at 123 (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 343A, comment b). Examples of obvious hazards are clearly visible patches of ice, Carrender v. Fitterer , uneven steps, Villano v. Security Savings Assoc., 268 Pa.Super. 67, 407 A.2d 440 (1979), and (for someone attending a baseball game) the possibility of being hit by a wayward baseball. Bowser v. Hershey Baseball Assoc .; Jones v. Three Rivers Management Corp. See also Ferencz v. Milie, 517 Pa. 141, 535 A.2d 59 (1987) (evidence that ice patches may have been known to or discoverable by defendant possessor of land but not known by or obvious to plaintiff invitee gives rise to jury question as to whether such hazards were obvious or known hazards); Malinder v. Jenkins Elevator Co., 371 Pa.Super. 414, 538 A.2d 509 (1988) (risk of calling elevator by tilting one's head into elevator shaft is obvious and known hazard). No duty cases, therefore, apply to a particular plaintiff/defendant relationship (e.g. business invitee/possessor of land), involve an objective as well as subjective standard for judging the plaintiff's appreciation of the risk, and place the burden of proof on the plaintiff since the duty of the defendant is an element of plaintiff's prima facie case. As we will explain more fully hereinbelow in connection with our discussion of the applicability of the defense of assumption of the risk to the instant case, the precise status under Pennsylvania law of some forms of the doctrine of assumption of the risk is presently unclear. Nonetheless, the no duty concept, particularly as it is manifest in a factual situation like that before us today, unquestionably remains as a viable doctrine. See Carrender v. Fitterer ; Malinder v. Jenkins Elevator Co . In contrast to the no duty theory, the defense of assumption of the risk requires that the defendant show that the plaintiff was subjectively aware of the facts which created the danger and . . . must have appreciated the danger itself and the nature, character and extent which made it unreasonable. Crance v. Sohanic, 344 Pa.Super. 526, 530, 496 A.2d 1230, 1232 (1985), quoting Weaver v. Clabaugh, 255 Pa.Super. 532, 388 A.2d 1094 (1978). The plaintiff's encountering of the risk must also have been voluntary. Marinelli v. Montour R.R. Co., 278 Pa.Super. 403, 420 A.2d 603 (1980); Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 496E, comment c (1977). These two requirements are summed up in the rigorous standard enunciated in Fish v. Gosnell, 316 Pa.Super. 565, 578, 463 A.2d 1042, 1049 (1983): Preliminary and deliberate conduct done with an awareness of the specific risks inherent in the activity is a proper basis for implying assumption of the risk. Assumption of the risk contrasts with no duty cases in that assumption of the risk requires that the plaintiff subjectively understand the risk. No duty cases find a defendant not liable if a reasonable person in the position of the plaintiff would have recognized the danger, in addition to finding no liability where the plaintiff did in fact subjectively appreciate the danger. Assumption of the risk is an affirmative defense, to be pleaded and proved by the defendant, Restatement of Torts (Second) § 496G, rather than as a part of plaintiff's prima facie case. Assumption of the risk is applicable in a wide variety of situations, not just in suits between parties in some type of special relationship. It is this form of the doctrine of assumption of the risk that has come under increasing attack in recent years, particularly in states like Pennsylvania where a system of comparative negligence has been enacted. See Malinder (Beck, J., dissenting). The basis for the attack on the continued use of the defense of assumption of the risk, importing as it does a complete bar to plaintiff's recovery, is the perceived intent of the legislature in enacting the Comparative Negligence Act, 42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 7102 (Purdon 1982). It has been argued that in enacting a comparative negligence scheme that abolishes the prior complete and automatic bar to a plaintiff's recovery that formerly resulted from a finding of contributory negligence, the legislature also clearly intended to eliminate the total bar of the defense of assumption of the risk where the plaintiff's conduct is unreasonable (i.e. negligent) and, therefore, the defense strongly resembles and even overlaps with contributory negligence. Rutter v. Northeastern Beaver City School District et al., 496 Pa. 590, 614-16 n. 6, 437 A.2d 1198, 1210-11 n. 6 (1981) (plurality); Malinder, supra, 371 Pa.Super. at 429-443, 538 A.2d at 521-23 (Beck, J., dissenting). At the present time, a majority of the Supreme Court has not yet directly addressed the issue of whether this form of assumption of the risk, as an affirmative defense that completely bars the plaintiff's recovery, remains a part of a proper negligence analysis. The most recent statement of the Supreme Court on the issue of the effect of the Comparative Negligence Act on the defense of assumption of the risk where it overlaps and coincides with contributory negligence expressly left the question open. Carrender v. Fitterer, 503 Pa. at 188-89, 469 A.2d at 125. This Court's most recent en banc holding regarding assumption of the risk concerned only the no duty form of the doctrine and also expressly did not consider or decide the effect of the Comparative Negligence Act on the defense of assumption of the risk. Malinder, supra, 371 Pa.Super. at 428, 538 A.2d at 516. Thus, we must take our guidance on this issue, to the extent it exists, from those decisions of various panels of this Court that have directly commented on the issue of the post-comparative negligence applicability of the defense to a plaintiff whose conduct could also be characterized as contributory negligence. While we have found no such case where a panel of this Court has actually held that the defense survives the Comparative Negligence Act and is applicable to the case before the Court, we are heavily influenced by the statement appearing in Fish v. Gosnell, 316 Pa.Super. 565, 463 A.2d 1043 (1983), to the effect that the defense survives. Id., 316 Pa.Superior Ct. at 576-77, 463 A.2d at 1048. We note that the Fish Court did not actually apply the defense to the facts of the case before it, and we therefore conclude that this statement is technically dictum. Thus, the status of the defense under Pennsylvania law after the enactment of the Comparative Negligence Act remains unclear. Lacking any definitive holding on the issue and in the interest of maintaining consistency in our law and in the guidance we provide to the bar, we are forced to conclude that we should proceed to analyze whether the defense of assumption of the risk is fairly raised on the facts of the case sub judice. Since the Comparative Negligence Act abolished the complete bar to recovery formerly resulting from a finding of contributory negligence in any degree and yet we feel bound to analyze whether in this case the assumption of the risk defense might still operate as a complete bar to appellee's recovery, it is critically important to distinguish between contributory negligence and assumption of the risk. In so doing, we point out that it is precisely the difficulties that inhere in drawing these close distinctions that argue forcefully for the abolition of the defense. See Rutter, supra ; Malinder, supra (Beck, J., dissenting). The Fish v. Gosnell Court has provided us with a credible analysis of the distinguishing characteristics of assumption of the risk. Under that analysis, a plaintiff who acts under circumstances in which he knows or a reasonable person would know that what he is doing is dangerous is merely negligent. His conduct is properly analyzed under the Comparative Negligence Act. Fish v. Gosnell, 316 Pa.Super. at 578-79, 463 A.2d at 1049. If he is less than 50% causally responsible for the resulting injury, he will still recover, at least partially. The assumption of the risk defense, on the other hand, requires more. Only if a plaintiff `fully understands' the specific risk, `voluntarily chooses' to encounter it, `under circumstances that manifest a willingness to accept it', is he said to have assumed the risk. Id., 316 Pa.Superior Ct. at 576-79, 463 A.2d at 1048-49 (quoting Marinelli v. Montour R.R. Co., supra ). As the Fish Court stated, the rationale for depriving the plaintiff of recompense for his injuries is as follows: [T]he essence of the assumption of risk defense is not fault but that the plaintiff changed his position. Before the injury, he intelligently acquiesced in a known danger and abandoned his right to complain, but afterward, seeks to assert the claim he had waived. See Jones v. Three Rivers Management Corp., supra . To imply such waiver from conduct and circumstances alone can be a source of `misapprehension and confusion' and `frequent misapplication.' W. Prosser, Law of Torts, at 445 (4th ed. 1971). Aware of this danger, our Court announced, even before comparative negligence, that it would take a `restrictive attitude' toward the circumstances from which the assumption of risk defense might be implied. Fahringer v. Rinehimer, 283 Pa. Superior.Ct. 93, 98-99, 423 A.2d 731, 734 (1980). Preliminary and deliberate conduct done with an awareness of the specific risks inherent in the activity is a proper basis for implying assumption of the risk. Conduct close in time and place to the accident, on the other hand, while it may contain an element of voluntary risk-taking, does not demonstrate a deliberate abandonment of the right to complain, but rather is better judged by its reasonableness, that is, by negligence principles. Id., 316 Pa.Superior Ct. at 578-79, 463 A.2d at 1049 (emphasis added). We now turn to the application of these various concepts of no duty and the assumption of the risk defense to the facts of the case at bar. We first consider appellant's no duty argument, i.e., whether the trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury that a possessor of land owes no duty to protect a business invitee against obvious or known dangers and that if the jury found that the dangers that caused appellee's injuries were obvious or known to appellee, its verdict must be in favor of appellant. A danger is obvious when both the condition and the risk are apparent to and would be recognized by a reasonable man, in the position of the visitor, exercising normal perception, intelligence, and judgment. Carrender v. Fitterer . The condition of the rink  the wide entrance, the six-inch drop-off, the placement of the vending machines  was apparent. None of these conditions was concealed in any way. However, we cannot say and there was no evidence to suggest that the risk posed by these conditions would be recognized by a reasonable person in the position of appellee, i.e., a skater alternately losing and regaining balance while travelling at a good rate of speed. A six-inch step may be innocuous to the reasonable person walking toward it, who will have the step in view for some time before actually encountering it. See Villano. However, if the same reasonable person were moving toward the step at a faster pace, fighting for balance on roller-skates, he would not have an adequate opportunity to recognize the danger the step poses to him. In addition, appellant asserts that the evidence established that the dangers involved were actually known to appellee even if they were not obvious to any reasonable person in appellee's position. However, although appellant states that appellee also subjectively recognized the danger posed by the rink, appellant fails to cite any evidence supporting this assertion. We therefore find that appellant has not established that there was sufficient evidence that the danger encountered by appellee was either known or obvious so as to warrant the trial court charging the jury on this issue. Appellant also argues that the jury should have been instructed that appellant would be relieved of any duty toward appellee if the jury concluded that appellee was injured as a result of a danger that is a normal incident of rollerskating, since appellant had no duty to protect against such normal incidents. We find that the trial court was correct in concluding as a matter of law that the generally known dangers of roller skating do not include the kind of danger appellee encountered in this case. [2] The trial court relied on Oberheim v. Pa. Sports and Enterprises, 358 Pa. 62, 55 A.2d 766 (1947), in dismissing appellant's claim on this point and we agree that this case controls. The plaintiff in Oberheim was attempting to enter the ice skating rink when she fell on a roughened area of ice at one of the entrances. The uneven condition of the ice surface had been created by a mixture of dirt, paper, and cigarette butts frozen into the ice, which maintenance people at the rink had collected and left at that location after cleaning the surface of the rink proper. Plaintiff won a jury verdict in the court below. On appeal, the court dismissed appellant ice skating rink's contention that its motions for judgment n.o.v. and for a new trial should have been granted on the ground that the Mrs. Oberheim assumed the risks attendant to ice skating: The appellant's contention that Mrs. Oberheim voluntarily assumed the risk of injury and is therefore barred from recovery is equally without merit. It will readily be conceded that an invitee of an ice skating rink assumes the ordinary risks incidental to the sport, such as the risk of injury from falling because of imperfections and inequalities on the surface of the ice reasonably to be anticipated. (Citation omitted). But, the invitee is not to be held to have assumed risks arising beyond the skating area from dangerous conditions of entrance and exit originating from other than the ordinary and foreseeable possible effects of skating on the ice. Here, likewise, the fact that Mrs. Oberheim may have known that an irregular and rough area existed in the passage way to the rink does not impel a legal conclusion that she assumed the risk of her injury. Id., 358 Pa. at 68, 55 A.2d at 769. See also McMillan v. Mountain Lauren Racing Inc., 240 Pa.Super. 248, 367 A.2d 1106 (1976). It is true that defendants have no duty to protect roller skaters against the typical risks of roller skating, such as falling down or being bumped by other skaters. These are risks general to skating at any rink. In contrast, the evidence here did not suggest that appellee's accident was caused by a risk general to skating, but rather that it was caused by a risk specific to the Radnor Rolls rink, i.e., the 60-foot wide opening in the rink and the six-inch drop-off. The initial incident in the string of causation leading up to appellee's accident was his losing his balance after being jostled by another skater. This is a common enough occurrence on the skating rink, and is a risk any skater may be said to be aware of when taking the floor. However, the design features peculiar to Radnor Rolls contributed significantly to the nature and severity of appellee's resulting injury. Had there not been such a wide opening in the railing around the rink, appellee might well have been able to stop himself against the railing. Had there not been a six-inch drop-off merely eight feet from the rink surface, Berman would not have been propelled with such force into the vending machine area, where he hit his head against a shelf. While charged with knowledge of the general risks of skating, a skater is not charged with knowledge of how the risk to him is increased above that caused by normal skating by the physical layout of the building. We find that the trial court did not err in denying appellant's motion for a new trial on these grounds. We now analyze appellant's claim that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of assumption of the risk. Appellant argues that sufficient evidence was offered at trial to have submitted the issue of assumption of risk to the jury. Appellant contends that appellee's own testimony demonstrated that he was aware of the six-inch drop-off, the presence of the vending machines, and the possibility of falling while skating. Appellant claims that appellee's initial decision to skate despite these factors was assumption of the risk. Appellant also finds assumption of the risk in the fact that during the course of appellee's progress toward the shelf on which he hit his head appellee in fact regained his balance and could have stopped, yet chose to continue skating. We disagree. We find this evidence insufficient to require that the jury be instructed on assumption of the risk. Appellee's choosing to skate despite his general awareness that roller-skaters occasionally fall, that vending machines were located approximately fifty feet from the skating rink, and that the floor surrounding the rink dropped off six inches a short distance from the rink does not constitute preliminary and deliberate conduct done with an awareness of the specific risk which caused his injury, i.e., the risk of losing control of his skates, shooting out over the drop-off, and running into the protruding shelf in the vending area. No evidence was introduced to show that appellee fully understood the danger the design features of the rink posed to him. In our view, it would be only the unusually imaginative and farsighted skater who would fully understand the danger posed by such factors in combination until the moment he or she was travelling toward the shelf. Equally meritless is appellant's argument that appellee's failure to stop himself in one of the few moments in which he regained his balance during his careening progress toward the vending machine area demonstrates assumption of the risk. The period of time in which appellee's journey from the skating floor to the shelf on which he hit his head took place was too short to permit him to make an intelligent and voluntary decision to stop or not. This is conduct close in time and place to the accident rather than the preliminary and deliberate conduct required for assumption of the risk. As the Fish v. Gosnell Court stated in analyzing facts generically similar to these, Yet these last minute decisions, of the sort that might be heavily influenced by an erroneous guess as to . . . speed. . . are not those that indicate an intelligent acquiescence to the possible life-or-limb consequences. They are not made under circumstances that manifest a willingness to accept the risk. Fish v. Gosnell, 316 Pa.Super. at 578-79, 463 A.2d at 1049. We therefore find that the trial court was justified in refusing to submit the issue of assumption of the risk to the jury. Marinelli v. Mountour R.R. Co., 278 Pa.Super. 403, 420 A.2d 603 (1980).