May 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 26

L AW R E V I E W

Majority " Baseball Rule " Limits Spectator Liability
By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

A

s described herein, the " Baseball Rule " has been adopted by courts in
a majority of jurisdictions that have considered the legal duty of landowners owed to spectators at baseball games. In general, the Baseball
Rule limits the landowner duty of care owed to spectators to providing reasonable protection in the form of screening behind home plate. Spectators who
choose to view the game in an unscreened area assume the open and obvious
risk of being struck by balls entering the stands in the ordinary course of play,
including pregame.
As a practical matter, in clearly
delineating and limiting the landowner's legal duty, the Baseball Rule
avoids creating a potential lawsuit
for every ball entering the stands and
striking a spectator. Absent the Baseball Rule, under general principles of
landowner liability for negligence,
each spectator injury would have to
be considered on a case-by-case basis
based upon the particular circumstances of a particular game in each
stadium setting. Accordingly, the
Baseball Rule avoids a flood of litiga-

24

Parks & Recreation

tion by increasing the likelihood that
a spectator lawsuit will be dismissed
prior to trial on a motion for summary judgment.
If general landowner principles
governing landowner liability for
negligence were applicable, spectator
lawsuits would be more likely to proceed to trial wherein a jury will consider whether or not the landowner
exercised reasonable care under the
circumstances. Critics of the Baseball
Rule question why the owners and
occupiers of ballfields should enjoy a

| M AY 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

judicially created exception that creates a limited duty to general principles of landowner liability. As noted
below, the legislatures in several jurisdictions have enacted a statute that
has effectively adopted a version of
the Baseball Rule, particularly when
courts have refused to do so.
While many of the court opinions
applying the Baseball Rule have involved professional baseball facilities, the principles and reasoning of
the Baseball Rule have been applied
to all levels of competition. The
Baseball Rule effectively limits the
landowner duty to providing protective screening only where the obvious yet unavoidable risk of injury is
greatest, i.e., the " zone of danger "
behind home plate. Courts have applied similar principles and extended this " zone of danger " reasoning
to other sports, e.g., hockey, where



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