Nalwa

*1152 Opinion

Plaintiff, who fractured her wrist on a bumper car ride at an amusement park, sued the park owner for negligence in not configuring or operating the bumper car ride so as to prevent her injury. The superior court granted summary judgment for defendant on the basis of the primary assumption of risk doctrine, under which participants in and operators of certain activities have no duty of ordinary care to protect other participants from risks inherent in the activity. (Knight v. Jewett (1992) 3 Cal.4th 296, 315-316 [ 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 2 , 834 P.2d 696 ].) The Court of Appeal, concluding the doctrine did not apply to bumper car rides, reversed.

We conclude the primary assumption of risk doctrine, though most frequently applied to sports, applies as well to certain other recreational activities including bumper car rides. We further conclude the doctrine applies to the ride here, even though amusement parks are subject to state safety regulations and even though, as to some rides, park owners owe participants the heightened duty of care of a common carrier for reward. (See Gomez v. Superior Court (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1125, 1141 [ 29 Cal.Rptr.3d 352 , 113 P.3d 41 ] [roller…

In Knight v. Jewett (1992) 3 Cal.4th 296 [ 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 2 , 834 P.2d 696 ] (Knight), a plurality of this court introduced a radical transformation of California’s tort law: Participants in active sports are exempt from the usual tort law standard of care—as measured by the conduct of a reasonable person in like or similar circumstances—to prevent injury to coparticipants. The only duty owed, the plurality said, is not to increase the risk of harm “inherent” in a particular sport (id. at pp. 315-316 (plur. opn. of George, J.)); whether a risk is inherent is a legal question to be decided by the judge before trial (id. at p. 313). I dissented in Knight , noting the difficulty trial judges would face in pretrial proceedings, on demurrer or on a motion for summary judgment, in discerning “which risks are inherent in a given sport” (id. at p. 337 (dis. opn. of Kennard, J.)). I perceived no good reason to abandon the traditional defense of assumption of risk, which pertains to a plaintiff’s knowing and voluntary acceptance of the risk of injury in a particular activity.

Eleven years later, in Kahn v. East Side Union High School Dist. (2003) 31 Cal.4th 990 [ 4 Cal.Rptr.3d 103 , 75…

Filed 12/31/

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

SMRITI NALWA, )

) Plaintiff and Appellant, ) ) S195031 v. ) ) Ct.App. 6 H034535

CEDAR FAIR, L.P., )

) Santa Clara County Defendant and Respondent. ) Super. Ct. No. CV089189 ____________________________________)

Plaintiff, who fractured her wrist on a bumper car ride at an amusement park, sued the park owner for negligence in not configuring or operating the bumper car ride so as to prevent her injury. The superior court granted summary judgment for defendant on the basis of the primary assumption of risk doctrine, under which participants in and operators of certain activities have no duty of ordinary care to protect other participants from risks inherent in the activity. (Knight v. Jewett (1992) 3 Cal.4th 296, 315-316.) The Court of Appeal, concluding the doctrine did not apply to bumper car rides, reversed. We conclude the primary assumption of risk doctrine, though most frequently applied to sports, applies as well to certain other recreational activities including…