THE BIKE RIDER “QUACKED” UP
Former Secretary of State Kerry in his more upright days. To our knowledge, Donald Trump didn’t ride a bicycle. Joe Biden rides one of those old-person three-wheelers…
Note to Mr. Quackenbush: Secretary of State John Kerry didn’t sue anyone when he fell off his bike. Neither did President Bush. But you, Mr. Quackenbush, are no John Kerry. Or George W. Bush. You sued the City of Buffalo because while you were riding your bike on one of Buffalo’s park trails when you hit a hole and fell off.
OK, Mr. Quackenbush, you might be a President Trump, at least insofar as stupid lawsuits go. We’ll give you that.
You sued, and Buffalo – not liking the defendant’s role you chose for it – tried to trample you. The City argued that New York’s recreational use statute immunized it from liability, but the Court ruled that where a government entity is involved — rather than a private landowner — it had to figure out whether the recreational user statute was intended by the legislature to induce the City to open the park, or to increase the use and enjoyment of the particular park by the public. The City maintained the trail was really kind of like a sidewalk, and the state’s sidewalk injury immunity statute applied.
No dice, the Court said. But Quackenbush kind of assumed the risk, the City argued. Not necessarily, the Court countered. Through it all, the City hadn’t shown it wasn’t responsible for creating the hole, or that it didn’t know it was there.
Now you’d think that hitting a hole on an unimproved trail on a mountain bike was kind of an unsurprising risk. But unsurprising or not, the appellate court thought the case was good enough to go to trial.
Mountain biking, as Mr. Quackenbush learned, can be challenging.
Quackenbush v. City of Buffalo, 842 N.Y.S.2d 657 (N.Y.A.D. 2007). Quackenbush was riding a mountain bike on a trail located in a park owned by the City of Buffalo when he hit a large hole, fell and was injured. He sued for negligence, and the City of Buffalo moved for summary judgment under several theories, chief among them being the New York recreational use statute. The trial court denied summary judgment, and the City appealed.
Held: Quackenbush could not be buffaloed by Buffalo. The appellate court concluded that the recreational use statute did not confer immunity upon the City. Although the statute generally provides immunity to landowners who permit others to use their property for certain recreational activities, the Court said, when the landowner is a government entity a different standard is applied. Then, the appropriate inquiry is the role of the landowner in relation to the public’s use of the property, and from there a determination is made whether it is appropriate to apply the limited liability provision of the statute.
Here, the Court concluded that the park was actively operated, supervised and maintained in such a manner that recreational use immunity would not create an additional inducement to keep the property open to the public for the recreational activities set out in the law. Additionally, state law immunizing the City for damages caused by bad sidewalks didn’t apply, inasmuch as the law was limited to streets, highways, bridges, culverts, sidewalks or crosswalks. Under the facts of this case, the Court held, the statute must be construed as a flat prohibition “of defect enactment pertaining to locations beyond the six specified.”
The City of Buffalo was not allowed to stampede over this plaintiff.
The Court rejected the City’s argument that an unimproved trail such as the one on which Quackenbush was injured was the functional equivalent of a sidewalk. The Court also ruled that Quackenbush had not assumed the risk of injury. Although the risk of striking a hole and falling is inherent in riding a bicycle on most outdoor surfaces, the Court said, there was an issue of fact whether the hole at issue in this case was open and obvious.
Finally, just so the City could go 0 for 4 here, the Court observed that the City was required to establish as a matter of law that it hadn’t created the dangerous condition and didn’t have actual or constructive notice of it. The City hadn’t done either.
– Tom Root
Tree and Neighbor Law For Homeowners and Professionals 