Truong

In this appeal, we address the question whether the doctrine of primary assumption of risk bars a claim for the wrongful death of a passenger who tragically died as a result of a collision between the personal watercraft she was riding and another similar watercraft owned and operated by defendants. We are further invited to distinguish existing authority applying the doctrine to the use of personal watercraft by differentiating between “casual” use of such watercraft and “extreme” use. We conclude the doctrine applies to the claims of passengers on personal watercraft. We also decline appellants’ invitation to distinguish between casual and extreme use of the watercraft and to draw distinctions based on the use or action at the specific moment of injury without considering the general nature of the activity in which the participants are engaged and the relationship of the plaintiff and the defendant to the activity.

Introduction

Appellants Long Truong and Yen Truong (hereafter jointly Plaintiffs), parents of decedent Rachael Truong (Rachael), sued respondents Cu Van *870 Nguyen (Cu Van) and Chuong Nguyen (Chuong; hereafter jointly Defendants) and Anthony Nguyen…

A person generally owes a duty of due care not to cause an unreasonable risk of harm to others. (Civ. Code, § 1714; Kahn v. East Side Union High School Dist. (2003) 31 Cal.4th 990, 1003 [ 4 Cal.Rptr.3d 103 , 75 P.3d 30 ] (Kahn).) One of the exceptions to this general rule is the doctrine of primary assumption of the risk. Under this doctrine, “sports participants have a limited duty of care to their coparticipants, breached only if they intentionally injure them or ‘engage[] in conduct that is so reckless as to be totally outside the range of the ordinary activity involved in the sport.’ ” (Shin v. Ahn (2007) 42 Cal.4th 482 , 486 [ 64 Cal.Rptr.3d 803 , 165 P.3d 581 ], quoting Knight v. Jewett (1992) 3 Cal.4th 296, 320 [ 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 2 , 834 P.2d 696 ] (Knight).) In determining whether the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff, courts do not focus on “the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the plaintiff’s conduct, but rather on the nature of the activity or sport in which the defendant is engaged and the relationship of the *895 defendant and the plaintiff to that activity or sport.” (Knight, at p. 309.) This doctrine applies not only to participants in competitive events,…

McADAMS, J.

In this appeal, we address the question whether the doctrine of primary assumption of risk bars a claim for the wrongful death of a passenger who tragically died as a result of a collision between the personal watercraft she was riding and another similar watercraft owned and operated-by the defendants. We are further invited to distinguish existing authority applying the doctrine to the use: of personal watercraft by differentiating between "casual" use of such watercraft and "extreme" use. We conclude the doctrine applies to the claims of passengers on personal watercraft. We also decline appellants' invitation to distinguish between causal and extreme use of the watercraft and to draw distinctions based on the use or action at the specific moment of injury without considering the general nature of the activity in which the participants are engaged and the relationship of the plaintiff and the defendant to the activity.

Appellants Long Truong and Yen Truong (hereafter jointly Plaintiffs), parents of Decedent Rachael Truong (Rachael), sued respondents Cu Van Nguyen (Cu Van) and Chuong Nguyen (Chuong; hereafter jointly Defendants) and Anthony Nguyen (Anthony) [1] for…