Lack of adequate supervision is a common claim for youth sport injury claims.  A defense to such a claim may be that the accident occurred in such a short span of time that even the most intense supervision could not have prevented it from occurring.  Under those circumstances, the lack of supervision is not the proximate cause of the injury and a defendant charged with the duty of reasonable supervision is entitled to summary judgment in its favor.

In Cvijenovich v. Beacon Kids Wrestling Club, a 13-year-old was injured in a wrestling tournament. Plaintiff alleged that the child allegedly sustained injuries when his opponent performed “an illegal or unreasonably dangerous wrestling move.”  Immediately following the alleged illegal wrestling move, the referee, an experienced high school wrestler, disqualified the opponent. The plaintiff alleged, among other things, that the defendants were negligent in failing to provide adequately trained or certified referees to provide proper supervision of the match, resulting in the infant plaintiff’s injuries.

The wrestling club moved for summary judgment, arguing that they could not be held liable for the infant plaintiff’s injuries as the injury had occurred in such a short time period as even the most intense supervision could not have prevented the body slam.  The trial court denied the wrestling club’s motion, and the club appealed.

The Appellate Division, Second Department found that the wrestling club had established through the plaintiff’s child’s deposition transcript and a videotape of the wrestling match that the allegedly illegal wrestling move occurred so quickly that a claimed lack of adequate supervision could not be the proximate cause of the child’s injuries.  The Court thus reversed the trial court’s decision and awarded summary judgment in favor of the wrestling club.

Thanks to Jorgelina Foglietta for her contribution to this post and please write to Mike Bono for more information.