Gilbert v. Seton Hall University

• Decision Date: 13 June 2003
• Docket Number: Docket No. 02-7524.
• Citation: 332 F.3d 105
• Parties: Michael GILBERT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SETON HALL UNIVERSITY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

332 F.3d 105

Michael GILBERT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SETON HALL UNIVERSITY, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 02-7524.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: December 11, 2002.

Decided: June 13, 2003.

Richard J. Weiner, Nanuet, N.Y., for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Steven Backfisch, Lindabury, McCormick & Estabrook, Westfield, N.J. (Robert J. Avallone, Lewis, Johs, Avallone, Aviles & Kaufman, Melville, N.Y., on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee.

Before: NEWMAN, SACK, and SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judges.

Judge SOTOMAYOR dissents with a separate opinion.

JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal concerns choice of law with respect to charitable immunity. The specific issue is whether New York, the forum state, would apply New Jersey law, which preserves charitable immunity, or the law of New York or Connecticut, both of which have abolished such immunity, to a tort claim brought against a New Jersey university by a Connecticut student attending the university who was injured while participating in an extracurricular sporting event in New York. Michael Gilbert appeals from the December 8, 2000, judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Marilyn Dolan Go, Magistrate Judge) granting Seton Hall University ("Seton Hall") summary judgment on his claims seeking damages for injuries sustained during a rugby match in 1992. The District Court held that Seton Hall was immune from liability under New Jersey's law of charitable immunity. We agree with the District Court that the New York Court of Appeals would apply the charitable immunity law of New Jersey to this case, and we therefore affirm.

Background

I. Facts

Seton Hall and Its Rugby Club. Seton Hall is a nonprofit educational institution located in South Orange, New Jersey. In addition to its intercollegiate athletics program, Seton Hall makes available to its students "club sports," which, according to a Seton Hall manual, are "organized, financed, and run by students with the administrative assistance of the [Department of Recreational Services]." Seton Hall regulates club sports in various ways. For example, Seton Hall prohibits alcohol at any "University sponsored club sport event." Although the regulations do not specifically require club sports to have a coach or a faculty advisor, the manual refers to coaches and faculty advisors and imposes upon them certain requirements.

Rugby at Seton Hall is a club sport. Players participate through the Seton Hall Rugby Club ("Rugby Club"). The Rugby Club's charter states that it is "organized subject to the authority of Seton Hall University... and in conjunction with the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union" ("MNYRU").

During the relevant period, the Rugby Club was a dues-paying member of the MNYRU. The MNYRU is apparently a private league, unaffiliated with any university, that organizes rugby play for collegiate and non-collegiate teams. The MNYRU prohibits member teams from playing, scrimmaging, or practicing against non-member teams.

Gilbert's Participation in the Rugby Club. Gilbert, who is domiciled in Connecticut, enrolled in Seton Hall as a full time student in the fall of 1990 after completing one year of study at Long Island University. He lived in New Jersey on or near the Seton Hall campus during the academic years 1990-91 and 1991-92.

Gilbert's first experience with rugby occurred in the spring of 1991, during his second semester at Seton Hall, when he joined the Rugby Club. That semester, he attended the club's bi-weekly practice regularly and played in most of the club's regularly scheduled games. Also during that semester, he filled out a waiver of liability for the academic year 1990-91.

When Gilbert returned to Seton Hall for his second year in the fall of 1991, he continued participating in the Rugby Club, but did not sign a waiver of liability for the new academic year. During the fall semester, he attended almost all the practices and played in all of the matches. In the spring and fall of 1991 combined, Gilbert participated in approximately ten rugby matches.

In the spring semester of 1992, Gilbert continued regularly attending practice. He played the first two matches that semester. On both occasions he played wing forward, the same position he had regularly played the previous semester.

St. John's Match. On April 4, 1992, Gilbert and the Rugby Club traveled to Cunningham Park in Queens, New York, to play the third game of the spring season. The opposing team was nominally affiliated with St. John's University. Unknown to Gilbert or his fellow club members, the St. John's team had been banned by authorities of St. John's University in 1986, and the team playing against the Rugby Club on April 4, 1992, was a pickup team composed in part of St. John's students. The St. John's team had been suspended from the MNYRU.

Gilbert stated in his deposition that the field was not properly lined and lacked goalposts. A keg of beer was available, and some members of the opposing team drank from it. Gilbert did not drink alcohol during the game and saw none of his teammates drinking. No coach or faculty advisor accompanied the Rugby Club for the match. No "certified referee" was present, although there was apparently an individual performing the function of a referee.

Early in the game, on an inbounding play known as a "line out," Gilbert took possession of the ball. As he was trying to pitch the ball to a teammate, he was hit from behind. Several players then fell on top of him. As a result, Gilbert sustained serious injuries that rendered him a quadriplegic. There is no evidence that any unsportsmanlike conduct occurred on the play during which Gilbert was injured.

II. Procedural History

In April 1994, the Plaintiff filed in the District Court a diversity complaint alleging violations of New York law against Seton Hall and St. John's University. He later filed an amended complaint, joining three individual defendants.

The amended complaint alleges, among other things, that Seton Hall was negligent in supervising the team by failing to ensure the active participation of a faculty advisor and/or coach, and that, if Seton Hall had provided adequate supervision, the match would not have taken place because the field was not a properly sanctioned rugby field, there was no certified referee present, members of the opposing team were drinking beer, members of the Rugby Club had drank beer the night before, and the opposing team was not sanctioned by St. John's University and was suspended from the MNYRU.

In November 2000, Magistrate Judge Go, to whom the case had been assigned for all purposes, granted Seton Hall's motion for summary judgment. The other defendants were dismissed either previously or subsequently. With respect to Seton Hall, the Court concluded that New Jersey's law of charitable immunity was applicable and provided Seton Hall with a complete defense.¹ Judgment was entered December 8, 2000.

Discussion

New Jersey law recognizes the doctrine of "charitable immunity," whereby nonprofit corporations and associations organized exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes are immune from negligence liability for injuries caused to a beneficiary of the charitable institution. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:53A-7 (West 2000). Although New York and Connecticut once recognized charitable immunity, both abolished the doctrine long before the events giving rise to this suit. See Bing v. Thunig, 2 N.Y.2d 656, 666-67, 163 N.Y.S.2d 3, 8-9, 143 N.E.2d 3 (1957); Conn. Gen.Stat. § 52-557d (2003) (enacted 1967).

The parties agree that, if New Jersey law applies, summary judgment was properly granted. Gilbert argues that New York conflicts law requires the law of New York to be applied, defeating Seton Hall's charitable immunity defense.

In diversity cases, federal courts apply the choice of law rules of the forum state, in this case, New York. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Manufacturing Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496-97, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941). Thus, "[o]ur task is to determine what law New York courts would apply in this situation." O'Rourke v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 730 F.2d 842, 847 (2d Cir.1984), abrogated on other grounds, Salve Regina College v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 230, 111 S.Ct. 1217, 113 L.Ed.2d 190 (1991).

Where the conflict of law concerns a loss-allocating rule, a rule that "prohibit[s], assign[s], or limit[s] liability after the tort occurs," Padula v. Lilarn Properties Corp., 84 N.Y.2d 519, 522, 620 N.Y.S.2d 310, 312, 644 N.E.2d 1001 (1994), New York courts resolve the conflict by employing the methodology set forth in Neumeier v. Kuehner, 31 N.Y.2d 121, 335 N.Y.S.2d 64, 286 N.E.2d 454 (1972). See Cooney v. Osgood Machinery, Inc., 81 N.Y.2d 66, 71-75, 595 N.Y.S.2d 919, 922-24, 612 N.E.2d 277 (1993) (applying Neumeier to resolve a conflict of laws); see also Caruolo v. John Crane, Inc., 226 F.3d 46, 57 (2d Cir.2000) (same). Charitable immunity is a loss-allocating rule, and therefore we look to Neumeier. See Schultz v. Boy Scouts of America, Inc., 65 N.Y.2d 189, 198-202, 491 N.Y.S.2d 90, 96-98, 480 N.E.2d 679 (1985) (applying Neumeier to conflict of laws issue regarding charitable immunity law).

In Neumeier, the Court of Appeals adopted a framework of three rules for determining the applicable law. The third rule, applicable where the parties reside in different jurisdictions and the allegedly tortious conduct occurs in a third jurisdiction, see Neumeier, 31 N.Y.2d at 128, 335 N.Y.S.2d at 70, 286 N.E.2d 454, governs this case because Gilbert is a domiciliary of Connecticut, see Seitelman v. Lavine, 36 N.Y.2d 165, 171, 366 N.Y.S.2d 101, 105, 325 N.E.2d 523 (1975) ("students do not gain or lose a residence simply because they are away from home"), Seton Hall is domiciled in New Jersey, and the injury took place in New York. The third Neumeier rule directs a court to apply the law of the jurisdiction where the injury occurred unless...