Court Opinion

ID: 9705289
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:01:22.151473+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:09.652335
License: Public Domain

*261KELLEY, Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I agree with the majority that a reversal and remand for a new trial are required here, and further agree with most of the majority’s analysis. I write separately only because I believe that on remand, the City is entitled to its requested instruction on assumption of the risk.
In Rutter v. Northeastern Beaver County School District, 496 Pa. 590, 437 A.2d 1198 (1981), a plurality of our Supreme Court was prepared to abolish the doctrine of assumption of risk in its entirety, finding it unnecessarily confusing and inconsistent with Pennsylvania’s comparative negligence statute, 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102. This view, however, has never garnered a majority of the justices. To the contrary, as the majority recognizes, the appellate courts of this state have continued to apply the doctrine, at least under certain circumstances. (Maj. op. at 243-248 and cases cited therein). I believe that this case is a classic example of such circumstances.
The cases of Fish and Berman cited by the majority could best be classified as “secondary” assumption of risk cases; ie., cases in which the plaintiff’s conduct was unreasonable in pursuing a course of conduct when he knew or should have known of the danger. In these cases, assumption of risk “overlaps with the defense of contributory negligence.” Jones v. Three Rivers Management Corp., 483 Pa. 75, 78, 394 A.2d 546, 552-53 (1978). On the other hand, “primary” assumption of risk occurs where the plaintiff “knew of the risk, appreciated its character, and voluntarily chose to accept it.” Id. In its primary sense, assumption of risk remains viable as a complete bar to recovery in Pennsylvania. Carrender v. Fitterer, 503 Pa. 178, 469 A.2d 120 (1983), Malinder v. Jenkins Elevator & Machine Co., 371 Pa.Superior Ct. 414, 538 A.2d 509 (1988), Smith v. Seven Springs Farm, Inc., 716 F.2d 1002 (3d Cir.1983).
Only when a plaintiff was “subjectively aware of the facts which created the danger and ... must have appreciated the danger itself and the nature, character and extent *262which made it unreasonable,” and nevertheless voluntarily chose to encounter the risk will the plaintiff be held to have assumed the risk in the “primary” sense. Fish, 316 Pa.Superior Ct. at 578, 463 A.2d at 1049.
An important factor in determining whether a plaintiff has assumed the risk in a “primary” sense is the timing of his voluntary choice. When the choice is made prior to the occurrence of the physical event immediately preceding the injury, assumption of risk in the primary sense will most likely be found. Malinder, 371 Pa.Superior Ct. at 426, 538 A.2d at 515, while acts of the plaintiff more immediately preceding the actual accident are more likely to be analyzed in terms of “secondary” or negligent conduct. Fish, 316 Pa.Superior Ct. at 578-79, 463 A.2d at 1049.
It is at this point that I must separate myself from the majority’s analysis. While the majority dissects the course of conduct involved, and analyzes the “risk” solely as the risk of being hit by a police car while attempting to escape from the roadblock, I believe that the entire course of events must be viewed. Jodzis made his voluntary choice when he first elected to evade the police, rather than to stop as was his lawful duty. At that point, Jodzis, by voluntarily engaging in a deliberate attempt to avoid apprehension, assumed the risk that his unreasonable, and indeed unlawful conduct might well result in injuries to himself, the pursuing police officers, or the general public. That a high-speed chase might result in a vehicle collision is so painfully obvious that Jodzis must have been aware of it.
Because Jodzis assumed the risks inherent in a high-speed chase when he first chose to evade police rather than stop, I would hold that this case is more correctly classified as a “primary” rather than a “secondary” assumption of risk. I would also conclude that the facts of this case do not automatically mandate judgment against Jodzis. If Jodzis’ testimony that the police car intentionally “rammed” him is believed, this intentional act by the police would most certainly be found to be beyond the scope of the risk *263assumed by Jodzis. This, however, is an issue of fact which must be decided by a jury.