Court Opinion

ID: 9712941
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:03:33.369078+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:15.382645
License: Public Domain

BAKER, Judge,
concurring in result.
I agree with the result reached by the majority, but I respectfully disagree with its analysis and conclusion as to the jury instruction on incurred risk. In particular, I disagree with the majority's conclusion that the trial court properly gave Final Instruction No. 5, which contained an element of subjectivity with respect to the issue of incurred risk.
Indiana Code section 34-31-6-3 establishes an objective standard for a roller skater's assumption of risk: "(a) Roller skaters are considered to: (1) have knowledge of; and (2) assume; the risks of roller skating." This statutory language clearly and unambiguously indicates that assumption of the risk is presumed, and *409nothing in the statute indicates that a roller skater must have "actual knowledge" of a specific risk to be found to have incurred that risk. Moreover, the legislature did not place a qualification on this provision limiting the assumption of risk to injuries that occurred as a result of only those collisions not otherwise attributable to the operator's breach of its duties. I believe, therefore, that in light of the statute's clear language, the trial court erred in giving Final Instruction No. 5 because it included an element of subjectivity and was, accordingly, a misstatement of the law,
Although I conclude that the trial court erred in giving this jury instruction, I believe it to be harmless error in light of the considerable evidence indicating that Mrs. Poland's injury was the fault of St. Margaret and Brian Stewart. Thus, while I disagree with the majority's analysis, I concur in the result.