Foronda v. Hawaii Intern. Boxing Club

• Decision Date: 24 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 21703.,21703.
• Citation: 96 Haw. 51,25 P.3d 826
• Parties: Reynaldo FORONDA, as Special Administrator for the ESTATE OF Jeffrey Arciaga FORONDA, Reynaldo Foronda, and Candida Foronda, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HAWAII INTERNATIONAL BOXING CLUB, County of Hawaii, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Hawaii Court of Appeals

25 P.3d 826

96 Haw. 51

Reynaldo FORONDA, as Special Administrator for the ESTATE OF Jeffrey Arciaga FORONDA, Reynaldo Foronda, and Candida Foronda, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HAWAII INTERNATIONAL BOXING CLUB, County of Hawaii, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 21703.

Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawai`i.

May 24, 2001.

Certiorari Denied July 2, 2001.

Phillip L. Carey, (Ahmadia & Carey), on the briefs, Hilo, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Sidney K. Ayabe and J. Thomas Weber, on the briefs, Honolulu, for defendant-appellee Hawaii International Boxing Club.

Michael B. Dabney, Deputy Corporation Counsel, on the briefs, for defendant-appellee County of Hawaii.

BURNS, C.J., WATANABE and LIM, JJ.

Opinion of the Court by LIM, J.

On September 14, 1923, in New York City, the fabled heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey defended his title against Luis "Angel" Firpo, who outweighed him by well over twenty pounds. Dempsey, a veritable hatchet, chopped his man down in the second round, but not before the ursine Firpo knocked him through the ropes and out of the ring. Boxing lore has it that ringside reporters helped Dempsey back into the ring, enabling him to complete the tale that has borne countless repetitions.¹

On March 30, 1995, young amateur boxer Jeffrey Foronda (Foronda) was hit in the stomach while sparring at the Waiakea Recreation Center. Doubled over, Foronda sat on a ring rope to catch his breath, but then slipped down backward between the ropes and hit his head, losing consciousness. He never regained his senses and died three days later.

Foronda's parents, Plaintiffs-Appellants Reynaldo and Candida Foronda (Plaintiffs), commenced this action in the circuit court of the third circuit against Defendants Hawai`i International Boxing Club (HIBC), Foronda's amateur boxing club, and the County of Hawai`i (County), the owner and operator of the Waiakea Recreation Center boxing ring, alleging that the Defendants had negligently constructed, maintained and supervised the Waiakea Recreation Center boxing ring, causing the death of their son.

Circuit court judge Riki May Amano granted motions for summary judgment in favor of both HIBC and the County based upon the doctrine of assumption of risk. The court also found that "[t]he County of Hawai`i had no knowledge or notice of any condition of its boxing ring posing an unreasonable risk of harm." Plaintiffs appeal the court's June 10, 1998 judgment, the underlying findings of fact, conclusions of law and order granting the motions for summary judgment, and the order denying their motion for reconsideration.

Plaintiffs present two issues on appeal. They argue, first, that the court granted summary judgment in favor of both HIBC and the County based upon the erroneous conclusion that Foronda assumed all risks that contributed to his death. They also contend the court granted the County summary judgment based upon the erroneous finding that the County had no knowledge of any dangerous condition of the ring.

We hold, as a matter of law under the doctrine of primary implied assumption of risk, that Foronda assumed all risks that contributed to his death. We therefore affirm the judgment.

I. Background.

On March 30, 1995, the twenty-five-year-old Foronda, an amateur boxer, was sparring at the Waiakea Recreation Center under the supervision of his coach Walter F. Carvalho, Sr. (Carvalho) and his trainer John Lopez (Lopez). In order to prepare Foronda for an upcoming fight, Carvalho had wanted him to spar two rounds with Lopez, then two with fellow amateur Anthony Pagan (Pagan). Each round was to last three minutes, with a one-minute rest between rounds. Although Lopez was a professional boxer, Carvalho considered him a "novice" because Lopez had only "about eight or nine fights" under his belt.

After sparring with Lopez, Foronda told Carvalho that he was ready to box some more, so he proceeded to spar with Pagan. As Carvalho described it, "[Foronda] looked great because he came back to the corner in the second round [against Lopez] and he was ready to go another three if I wanted him to." Pagan, also twenty-five years old, was about twenty pounds lighter than Foronda. He was, according to Carvalho, "below [Foronda's] caliber." Although Pagan had been boxing about as long as Foronda and had one or two more amateur bouts under his belt than Foronda, Carvalho opined that Foronda was "way better than [Pagan] is."

Halfway through his first round of sparring, Pagan hit Foronda with a straight, right-hand punch to the stomach. Pagan remembered that the blow was not a hard punch, but that he caught Foronda in the right place. As soon as he got hit, Foronda stopped boxing and curled over for a bit, then stood up to stretch his stomach in order to catch his breath. He then backed up and sat on a rope of the ring, bent over with his head down.

The rope was the second highest of four ropes strung around the perimeter of the ring above the ring canvas. Unburdened, the second rope was 27 inches from the canvas. When Foronda sat on the second rope, it "sagged some under his weight[.]"

Carvalho said that after a boxer absorbs a body punch, he might lean or sit on the ropes to catch his breath, sometimes for thirty seconds or more, and in such instance it is normal practice to instruct the boxer to raise his hands to open his lungs. In this instance, Foronda appeared to have the wind knocked out of him, so Carvalho and Lopez instructed him in accordance with the normal practice. Foronda smiled and waved to acknowledge the instructions.

After sitting on the rope for about thirty seconds, Foronda leaned forward a little, then to the side, and finally slipped down backward between the second and third ropes. As he put out his hand as if to brace his fall, his rear end touched the floor; then his shoulders and next his head hit the thin carpet covering the floor outside the ring. Carvalho related that Foronda "went down real slow then barely hit his head." Carvalho said he was surprised at the turn of events because he had never seen anyone hurt in a similar manner. In contrast, Carvalho recalled:

I've seen [boxers] dive through [the ropes], guys push them through or he come running at the guy and the guy side-step him and he fly through.

I've seen them fall off [rings raised four feet off the floor], hit his head on the table, bang his head on the concrete and get up and walk out or get back in the ring and start fighting. I've seen that.

Never have I seen a [ring flush to the floor] like this that somebody sits down, lay down and goes into a seizure.

Carvalho added that nothing unusual occurred during the sparring before the accident.

Throughout the sparring session, Foronda wore protective head gear with extra-heavy padding, a protective cup and a fitted mouthpiece. For added safety, the boxers were using sixteen-ounce gloves, the largest gloves permitted. Despite the safety precautions, Foronda lost consciousness. He was taken to Hilo Hospital, then transferred to Straub Hospital, where he died three days later. The autopsy report found that Foronda died of a "severe intracranial injury, consistent with striking the head on a hard surface." The report also noted a "[s]mall area of bruising of the right diaphragm, anteriorly."

HIBC was a local, nonprofit, amateur boxing club formed by Carvalho. At the time of the accident, Carvalho had been a registered boxing coach and a certified boxing official for over thirty years, and was the president of HIBC. He was also a referee, judge and promoter.

HIBC was affiliated and registered with a national organization, United States Amateur Boxing, Inc. (USA Boxing). The 1993-1995 USA Boxing official rules provided that boxing rings, regardless of size, "shall be equipped with at least 4 ropes. All rings will have two spacer ties [connecting the ropes vertically] on each side of the ring to secure the ropes." The rules also required that the apron, or covering, of the ring floor extend beyond the ropes at least two feet. The rules set the maximum height of the ring floor at four feet off the ground. For international competitions, the ring floor had to be at least three feet, but not more than four feet, above the base. The rules were silent with respect to covering or padding for the ground or base surrounding and immediately below the ring. However, the rules applied only to boxing competitions and not to sparring or practice sessions. In any event, not all amateur boxing clubs on the island were registered with USA Boxing and not all amateur boxers on the island belonged to a club.

The County of Hawai`i owned, maintained and operated the Waiakea boxing ring. At the time of the accident, the ring was being used by at least two other boxing clubs on the island. HIBC used the facility with permission from the County, based upon a written "Application for Use of Facilities." Use of the facility was free of charge, except for a two-dollars-per-hour fee on the weekends. Between 1992 and the date of the accident, nobody had complained to Carvalho or to the County about the condition of the ring. Nor were there any injuries reported resulting from sparring or ring conditions.

Unlike boxing rings used for competition, that are raised up off the floor, the Waiakea ring was mounted flush with the gym floor. Measured from the inside of the ropes, the ring was an eighteen-foot ring, with a two-foot apron outside the ropes, and a thin, padded carpet covering the concrete outside the apron. The boxers used the carpet to wipe grime off their feet before entering the ring.

In 1992, when Carvalho first signed up to use the Waiakea ring, he was concerned with its condition. He approached the County to inquire about improving the facilities. Carvalho had built rings in the past, and considered himself pretty knowledgeable about such matters. He obtained permission from the County to replace the canvas and install new ropes and turnbuckles. Even...