The appeals court should rule in favor of the defendant, Jewett. This ruling is arrived at by the use of the primary assumption of risk doctrine. The particulars of the case point at an implied assumption of risk by the plaintiff. By getting into a session of an active sport, the plaintiff could not claim any duty of care owed to her by the defendant during the active sport event.
Knight bases her claim on the legal doctrine of negligence. She claims that the defendant owed her a reasonable duty of care during the game of touch football. She claims that the defendant was obliged to be careful not to cause any harm to the other participants in the game. Her injury, she claims, was as a result of the defendant’s negligence and he owed her a duty of care during the game. She claims that the injury inflicted on her was as a result of negligence on the defendant’s part and he was therefore liable.
Jewett bases his defense on the doctrine of primary assumption of risk. By voluntarily entering into a game of touch football, the plaintiff impliedly agreed to reduce the duty of care that the defendant owed her. The only duty of care that Jewett owed the plaintiff during the game was the duty to avoid being recklessness and any conduct that may be intentionally harmful. The plaintiff knowingly and voluntarily assumed the risk of injury by her agreement to participate in the game and the defendant could not be held liable for her injury. The injury was not as a result of the defendant’s intentional action.
The ruling should be in favor of the defendant. This is because the plaintiff reduced the reasonable duty of care owed to her by voluntarily participating in the game. The defendant could only exercise caution to the extent that he could not act in a way to intentionally cause harm to others during the game. This conclusion is based on the concept of assumption of risk.
Duty of care is a legal term used to describe the requirement that a person acts with watchfulness attention and care towards others that a reasonable person in the circumstance would. Negligence occurs if a person acts recklessly or without reasonable caution as per the requirements of the duty of care principle.
Primary assumption of risk is a legal principle which prevents a plaintiff from recovering damages from the defendant if it can be proved that the plaintiff did not intentionally act in a manner to cause harm and that the plaintiff knowingly and voluntarily entered into a situation which by implication reduced the duty of care owed to his person by the defendant.
