Kahn v. East Side Union High School District (2003) 31 Cal.4th 990

Kahn presented the issue of whether the primary assumption of risk doctrine, previously enunciated in Knight v. Jewett (1992) 3 Cal.4th 296, protects coaches as well as co-participants from liability for the risks inherent in a sport.

Because of the significant impact the Kahn case could have on youth sports, Horvitz & Levy LLP represented amici curiae the American Youth Soccer Organization, Little League Baseball, Inc., California State University, the University of California, and Golden Eagle Insurance Corporation.

In its decision, the Supreme Court embraced the rule of law that was urged by Horvitz & Levy in its amici curiae brief. The court held that the primary assumption of risk doctrine applies not just to sports participants, but also to instructors who allegedly "require[] a student to perform beyond the student’s capacity or without providing adequate instruction." To establish liability against a sports instructor for inadequate instruction, "it must be alleged and proved that the instructor acted with intent to cause a student’s injury or that the instructor acted recklessly in the sense that the instructor’s conduct was ‘totally outside the range of the ordinary activity’ involved in teaching or coaching the sport."

(Read the amicus curiae brief filed by Horvitz & Levy LLP in the Kahn case.)

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