April 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 31

the group was going to make their reservation. Holloway also called Route
40 as many as eight times asking for
directions to the facility. There is a
dispute in the record as to the exact
time that the group finally arrived at
the park. Some in the group testified
that it was " around noon " and others
at " around 12:15ish. " Route 40 personnel testified that the group arrived
between 12:45 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.
When the group arrived at the park,
they were all wearing black " sleep
shades. " While all of the group members were legally blind, some were
partially sighted and the purpose of

paintball, " the federal district court
acknowledged that " a reasonable
jury might find otherwise. " As a result, the case described herein would
be allowed to proceed to trial.
Regardless of the ultimate outcome, a full trial is a costly and time
consuming process for all involved
and better avoided if possible. Instead of asking " Why?, " with 20/20
hindsight, " Why not? " may have
been a better option. While not risk
free, provide the opportunity to participate. Let them play and supervise
their participants to ensure reasonable safety during the activity. In so
doing, you may win some friends and
supporters as opposed to creating potential adversaries for a lawsuit.

Thomas Maliszewski and their son,
Julian. The park consists of four playing fields, ranging from 150 feet by
120 feet to one acre in area. Participants typically play for two-hour time
slots, rotating between all four fields.
As described by Julian Maliszewski,
" paintball is...capture the flag, only we
use paintball markers, so instead of
the childhood version of tag, we shoot
each other with balls filled with paint. "
Typical paintball fields, including
those at Route 40, feature large objects
or " bunkers " placed throughout the
field to provide players places to hide
and from which to shoot at opponents.

Facts of the Case
Plaintiff Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) is a
statutory, nonprofit education and
training center for the blind. BISM
describes its mission as both helping
the blind reach their potential for living and working independently and
also as enhancing the public's attitudes concerning blindness. One of
the programs BISM offers is a Comprehensive Orientation, Rehabilitation, and Empowerment program
(CORE) for blind adults. Participants
in the CORE program are trained in
Braille, cane travel, and other nonvisual mobility and life skill techniques.
One requirement of the CORE
program is that each student must select, plan, organize, and lead a group
social outing. In May 2011, one of
the students in the CORE program,
Darrell Holloway, selected paintball
as his group social outing. Holloway
located defendant Route 40 Paintball
Park (Route 40) on the Internet.
Route 40 is owned by Miriam Maliszewski and operated by Miriam and

not? " may have been a better option. While not risk

Instead of asking " Why?, " with 20/20 hindsight, " Why
free, provide the opportunity to participate.
Holloway called Route 40 and
made reservations for 15 people for
Saturday, May 21, 2011, from noon
to 2:00 p.m. When Holloway made
the reservations, he was told to arrive
15 to 20 minutes before the scheduled time to complete waivers, secure the paintball guns and protective
equipment, and begin the mandatory
safety orientation. Holloway did not
mention in making the reservations
that the participants were blind. No
one in the group had previously been
to this particular paintball park.
On the day of the reservation, a
group led by Holloway and made
up of two BISM instructors and six
BISM students traveled to the paintball park on foot from a bus stop that
was several miles away. Holloway had
some difficulty getting to the facility,
and Route 40 called Holloway's cell
phone several times to confirm that

the shades was to remove any residual vision. Plaintiffs explain that
wearing the shades during the outing
was one of the requirements of the
CORE program. Because many of
the participants in the CORE program have degenerative conditions
that will eventually cause total blindness, one of the goals of the program
is to teach the participants how to do
everything nonvisually.
As the group arrived at the park,
the Route 40 personnel testified that
they observed the group having difficulty navigating their way into the
park. Several members of the group
walked past the entrance and were
directed back to the park by a sighted
bystander. Once at the park, one of
the participants collided with one of
the posts near the park entrance.
The group then met with Miriam
and Julian Maliszewski and stated

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April 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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