Avila v. Citrus Community College Dist.

• Citation: 41 Cal.Rptr.3d 299,131 P.3d 383,38 Cal.4th 148
• Decision Date: 06 April 2006
• Docket Number: No. S119575.,S119575.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: Jose Luis AVILA, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITRUS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT, Defendant and Respondent.

41 Cal.Rptr.3d 299

38 Cal.4th 148

131 P.3d 383

Jose Luis AVILA, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITRUS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT, Defendant and Respondent.

No. S119575.

Supreme Court of California.

April 6, 2006.

Law Offices of Alan E. Wisotsky and Brian P. Keighron, Oxnard, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Gibeaut, Mahan & Brisco, Gary Robert Gibeaut, John W. Allen and Lisa J. Brown, Los Angeles, for Defendant and Respondent.

WERDEGAR, J.

During an intercollegiate baseball game at a community college, one of the home team's batters is hit by a pitch. In the next half-inning, the home team's pitcher allegedly retaliates with an inside pitch and hits a visiting batter in the head. The visiting batter is injured, he sues, and the courts must umpire the dispute.

We are asked to make calls on two questions: (1) Does Government Code section 831.7, which immunizes public entities from liability for injuries sustained during "hazardous recreational activities," bar recovery against the home community college district, and (2) if not, does the community college district owe any duty to visiting players that might support liability? We conclude that section 831.7 does not extend to injuries sustained during supervised school sports, but that on the facts alleged the host school breached no duty of care to the injured batter. We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND¹

Jose Luis Avila, a Rio Hondo Community College (Rio Hondo) student, played baseball for the Rio Hondo Roadrunners. On January 5, 2001, Rio Hondo was playing a preseason road game against the Citrus Community College Owls (Citrus College). During the game, a Roadrunners pitcher hit a Citrus College batter with a pitch; when Avila came to bat in the top of the next inning, the Citrus College pitcher hit him in the head with a pitch, cracking his batting helmet. Avila alleges the pitch was an intentional "bean-ball" thrown in retaliation for the previous hit batter or, at a minimum, was thrown negligently.

Avila staggered, felt dizzy, and was in pain. The Rio Hondo manager told him to go to first base. Avila did so, and when he complained to the Rio Hondo first base coach, he was told to stay in the game. At second base, he still felt pain, numbness, and dizziness. A Citrus College player yelled to the Rio Hondo dugout that the Roadrunners needed a pinch runner. Avila walked off the field and went to the Rio Hondo bench. No one tended to his injuries. As a result, Avila suffered unspecified serious personal injuries.

Avila sued both schools, his manager, the helmet manufacturer, and various other entities and organizations. Only the claims against the Citrus Community College District (the District) are before us. Avila alleged that the District was negligent in failing to summon or provide medical care for him when he was obviously in need of it, failing to supervise and control the Citrus College pitcher, failing to provide umpires or other supervisory personnel to control the game and prevent retaliatory or reckless pitching, and failing to provide adequate equipment to safeguard him from serious head injury. Avila also alleged that the District acted negligently by failing to take reasonable steps to train and supervise its managers, trainers, employees, and agents in providing medical care to injured players and by conducting an illegal preseason game in violation of community college baseball rules designed to protect participants such as Avila.

The District demurred, contending it was protected by Government Code section 831.7, subdivision (a),² a public entity tort immunity statute. The District also contended that under Ochoa v. California State University (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 1300, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 768 (Ochoa), it owed no duty of care to Avila. The trial court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the action against the District.

A divided Court of Appeal reversed. Relying on Acosta v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist. (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 471, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 171 (Acosta) and Iverson v. Muroc Unified School Dist. (1995) 32 Cal. App.4th 218, 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 35 (Iverson), the majority concluded that section 831.7 does not extend immunity to claims predicated on the negligent supervision of public school athletes and that the District owed a duty of supervision to Avila. The dissent argued that Acosta and Iverson create a limited exception only for secondary school students and that section 831.7 immunity applied.

We granted the District's petition for review to resolve an apparent split in the Courts of Appeal concerning the scope of section 831.7 immunity and to address the extent of a college's duty in these circumstances.

DISCUSSION

I. Section 831.7 Immunity

As always, we begin our analysis of a statute's meaning with its text. (Elsner v. Uveges (2005) 34 Cal.4th 915, 927, 22 Cal.Rptr.3d 530, 102 P.3d 915.) Section 831.7 provides: "Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable to any person who participates in a hazardous recreational activity . . . for any damage or injury to property or persons arising out of that hazardous recreational activity." (Id., subd. (a).) In turn, a "hazardous recreational activity" is defined as "a recreational activity conducted on property of a public entity which creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial, or insignificant) risk of injury to a participant or a spectator." (Id., subd. (b).) "Hazardous recreational activity" is further defined by a nonexclusive list of activities that qualify, including such activities as diving, skiing, hang gliding, rock climbing, and body contact sports. (Ibid.)

The text is ambiguous. The statute does not specifically define "recreational activity," but instead includes a definition for "hazardous recreational activity." That definition defines and illustrates what is meant by the term "hazardous," while merely reusing the phrase "recreational activity." (§ 831.7, subd. (b).) The term "recreational," however, is susceptible to multiple interpretations. For example, "recreation" may be defined as "Refreshment of one's mind or body after work through some activity that amuses or stimulates; play." (American Heritage Dict. (2d college ed.1982) p. 1035, italics added.) Under this definition, not only the nature of the activity but the context matters. Pitching in an adult amateur softball game would qualify as recreational; pitching for the Oakland Athletics or San Francisco Giants professional baseball teams would not. What of playing in a high school or intercollegiate baseball game, which falls somewhere between these extremes? Does it matter if one is a scholarship athlete, and thus receiving some form of reward for one's continued performance, or if one's participation in a sporting activity is compulsory because of state laws governing physical education instruction? The text alone cannot answer these questions.

This ambiguity is reflected in the disparate conclusions the Courts of Appeal have reached when applying the statutory language to negligence claims against schools and universities. For example, in Acosta, supra, 31 Cal.App.4th 471, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 171, a high school gymnast was practicing at his high school during the off-season under the supervision of an assistant gymnastics coach. He fell during a difficult maneuver, landed on his neck, and was rendered a quadriplegic. The Court of Appeal ruled that section 831.7 did not immunize the school district from liability for negligent supervision. While the court acknowledged that gymnastics was a hazardous activity, it concluded that school districts have a well-established duty to provide reasonable supervision of school-sponsored extracurricular sports programs. (Acosta, at pp. 477-478, 37 Cal. Rptr.2d 171 [citing Leger v. Stockton Unified School Dist. (1988) 202 Cal.App.3d 1448, 1459, 249 Cal.Rptr. 688, and numerous additional out-of-state authorities].) The court found no indication the Legislature, when it adopted section 831.7, had intended to abrogate that duty. In order to resolve the conflict between the language of section 831.7 and the line of cases establishing a duty of supervision, the Acosta court reasoned that the term "recreational" should be interpreted to exclude supervised school-sponsored extracurricular athletics. (Acosta, at pp. 476, 478, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 171.)

In Iverson, supra, 32 Cal.App.4th 218, 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 35, an eighth-grade student was injured by a hard tackle during a physical education class soccer game. Here again, the court rejected section 831.7 immunity. Though distinguishing Acosta as involving extracurricular activities, Iverson agreed with much of its reasoning. It found in the legislative history of the statute no indication the Legislature intended to immunize schools from liability for injuries to students participating in school sports. While recognizing that soccer might be hazardous, Iverson agreed with Acosta that school sports activities could fairly be excluded from the definition of "recreational." Because Iverson was not injured during participation in a hazardous "recreational" activity, section 831.7 had no application. (Iverson, at pp. 225-227, 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 35.)

In contrast, in Ochoa, supra, 72 Cal. App.4th 1300, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 768, a California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State) student was injured in an intramural soccer game. Escalating roughness culminated in one player throwing a punch, catching plaintiff Ochoa in the jaw. Ochoa sued Sacramento State for negligently failing to supervise the game. The trial court granted Sacramento State's motion for summary judgment and the Court of Appeal affirmed, concluding that section 831.7 immunized the university from liability. (Ochoa, at p. 1306, 85 Cal. Rptr.2d 768.) The court distinguished Acosta and Iverson as not involving adult students engaged in voluntary activities. Because soccer is a hazardous activity and Ochoa was...