Patton v. USA RUGBY

• Decision Date: 10 June 2004
• Docket Number: No. 113,113
• Citation: 381 Md. 627,851 A.2d 566
• Parties: Judith Edwards PATTON, individually, and as the Surviving Spouse of Donald Lee Patton, and as personal representative and executor for the Estate of Donald Lee Patton, et al. v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RUGBY FOOTBALL, Union, Ltd. d/b/a USA Rugby, et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

851 A.2d 566

381 Md. 627

Judith Edwards PATTON, individually, and as the Surviving Spouse of Donald Lee Patton, and as personal representative and executor for the Estate of Donald Lee Patton, et al. v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RUGBY FOOTBALL, Union, Ltd. d/b/a USA Rugby, et al.

No. 113, Sept. Term, 2003.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 10, 2004.

W. David Allen, Crofton, for appellants.

Kristine A. Crosswhite (Crosswhite, McKenna, Limbrick & Sinclair, LLP, Baltimore, on brief), Barry C. Goldstein (Neal M. Brown, Waranch & Brown, LLC, Lutherville, on brief), for appellees.

Argued before BELL, C.J. RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE, JJ.

HARRELL, J.

On 17 June 2000, Robert Carson Patton, II, and his father, Donald Lee Patton, while at an amateur rugby tournament in Annapolis, were struck by lightning. Robert, a player in the tournament, was seriously injured, but survived. Donald, a spectator watching his son play, died. Robert and various other members of the Patton family filed suit in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County alleging negligence against the rugby tournament organizers, referee, and related organizations with regard to the episode.

Defendants filed Motions to Dismiss arguing they owed no legal duty to Robert and Donald Patton. A hearing was held and, on 10 July 2003, the Circuit Court dismissed the action. The Patton family appealed. This Court, on its own initiative and before the appeal could be decided in the Court of Special Appeals, issued a writ of certiorari to determine whether any of the defendants, under the circumstances alleged in the complaint, owed a legal duty to Robert and Donald Patton. Patton v. USA Rugby, 379 Md. 224, 841 A.2d 339 (2004).

I.

A. The Lightning Strike

Based on Appellants' amended complaint, we assume the truth of the following factual allegations:¹ Sometime during the early morning of 17 June 2000, Robert and Donald Patton arrived at playing fields adjacent to the Annapolis Middle School in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Robert was to play rugby for the Norfolk Blues Rugby Club. Donald intended to support his son as a spectator. Robert and Donald, along with other participants and spectators, placed their equipment and belongings under a row of trees adjacent to the playing fields.

The rugby tournament was coordinated by Steven Quigg and was sanctioned by the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd., d/b/a USA Rugby, and Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union, Inc. Rugby matches involving over two dozen teams began at approximately 9:00 a.m. and were planned to continue throughout the day. It was a warm, muggy day. The weather forecast for Annapolis was for possible thunderstorms. At some point prior to the start of the twenty minute match between the Norfolk Blues and the Washington Rugby Football Club ("the match"), a thunderstorm passed through the area surrounding the Annapolis Middle School. At the start of the match, rain commenced; lightning could be seen and thunder could be heard proximate to the lightning flashes. By this time, the National Weather Service had issued a thunderstorm "warning" for the Annapolis area.

Kevin Eager, a member of the Potomac Society of Rugby Football Referees, Inc., was the volunteer referee for the afternoon match in which Robert Patton was a participant. Under the direction of Eager, the match continued as the rain increased in intensity, the weather conditions deteriorated, and the lighting flashed directly overhead. Other matches at the tournament ended. Robert Patton continued to play the match through the rain and lightning and his father continued to observe as a spectator until the match was stopped just prior to its normal conclusion.

Upon the termination of the match, Robert and Donald fled the playing fields to the area under the trees where they left their possessions. As they began to make their exit from under the trees to seek the safety of their car, each was struck by lightning. Donald died. Robert Patton sustained personal injuries and was hospitalized, but recovered.

B. Circuit Court Proceedings

Appellants here and Plaintiffs below are Judith Edwards Patton (wife of Donald Patton), acting in both an individual capacity and as personal representative of the estate of Donald Patton; Sophia P. Patton and Robert C. Patton (the parents of Donald Patton); Robert Carson Patton, II; and Meredith Patton (Donald's daughter). They sued the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd., d/b/a USA Rugby ("USA Rugby"), the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union, Inc. ("MARFU"), the Potomac Rugby Union, Inc. ("PRU"), the Potomac Society of Rugby Football Referees, Inc. ("Referees' Society"), Kevin Eager,² and Steven Quigg, alleging that Defendants were liable in tort for the death of Donald Patton and the injuries suffered by Robert Patton. This liability, Appellants contended, was due to Defendants'/Appellees' failure to employ proper policies and procedures to protect players and spectators at the tournament from lightning strikes.

Appellants alleged that Appellees each had a duty to, but failed to, do one or more of the following acts:

"(a) Have and implement proper policies and procedures regarding the protection of players and spectators from adverse weather conditions and lightning;

"(b) Have and implement a policy regarding the safe evacuation of players and spectators from the fields of play at its matches when lightning is present;

"(c) Safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the players and spectators at its matches;

"(d) Terminate the rugby match and tournament when lightning is present;

"(e) Monitor and detect dangerous conditions associated with its matches; and

"(f) Train, supervise, monitor and control actions of officials prior to ensure the safety of the participants and spectators from dangerous lightning strikes."

On 26 August 2002, the Referees' Society filed a Motion to Dismiss all claims pending against it on the ground that the Referees' Society owed no tort duty to Robert or Donald Patton as a matter of law. Thereafter, on 16 September 2002, USA Rugby, MARFU, and Steven Quigg filed a joint Motion to Dismiss in which they adopted the arguments of the Referees' Society and advanced the additional argument that Maryland's Recreational Land Use Statute, found in Maryland Code (1974, 2000 Repl.Vol., 2003 Supp.), § 5-1101, et seq. of the Natural Resources Article, conferred tort immunity on them for injuries arising from recreational use of premises, i.e., playing rugby on the Annapolis Middle School fields.³

Appellants, on 30 December 2002, filed an amended complaint. On 9 January 2003, USA Rugby, MARFU, PRU, and Mr. Quigg filed a second Motion to Dismiss, or in the alternative, for Summary Judgment. The Motion to Dismiss argued that: (1) Appellees owed the Pattons no legally cognizable tort duty as a matter of law; (2) Appellees are immune from tort liability under Maryland's Recreational Land Use Statute; and (3) the claims of Robert were barred by waiver. On 13 January 2002, the Referees' Society also filed a Motion to Dismiss the amended complaint.

The pending motions were heard on 5 February 2003. The Circuit Court, subsequently, issued an order granting the pending motions to dismiss and, on 17 November 2003, issued a Memorandum Opinion explaining the reasons for the dismissal.

Based on Maryland precedents and caselaw from other jurisdictions, the Circuit Court concluded that Appellees did not owe a duty of care to Robert or Donald Patton. The Circuit Court noted generally that courts in other jurisdictions have found that "landowners" or their equivalent do not have a duty to warn invitees of the risk of lightning. As regards Donald Patton, the Circuit Court stated:

"[D]ecedent Donald Patton was a nonpaying spectator at a rugby match organized and overseen by [Appellees]. There is no indication from the record that Decedent had entrusted himself to the control and protection of [Appellees], indeed he was free to leave the tournament at any time. Additionally, there is no indication that he had lost the ability to monitor changing weather conditions and act accordingly. While [Appellants] allege the storm began near the beginning of the match, it was not until the conclusion of the game, that Decedent and plaintiff Robert Patton, attempted to escape the storm by running towards the tree line adjacent to the open field to retrieve their belongings. It was here that both were struck by lightning.

"The inherently unpredictable nature of weather and the patent dangerousness of lightning make it unreasonable to impose a duty upon [Appellees] to protect spectators from the type [of] injury that occurred here."

As regards Robert Patton, the Circuit Court stated that "[w]hile it is arguable that [Appellees] had a greater duty to protect plaintiff Robert Patton, a player/participant from injury, they were under no duty to protect and warn him of lightening strikes and other acts of nature." The hearing judge relied on cases from other jurisdictions involving lightning strikes on golf courses to conclude that "lightning is a universally known danger created by the elements" and, in the absence of evidence that Appellants created a greater hazard than brought about by natural causes, there is no duty to warn and protect. The Circuit Court expressly rejected as grounds for its grant of Appellees' motions to dismiss both Maryland's Recreational Land Use Statute, and waiver argument based on language contained in Robert Patton's alleged execution of a USA Rugby Participant Enrollment Form. This appeal follows, therefore, from a dismissal of the amended complaint based solely on the ground that there was no legal duty owed to Robert or Donald Patton. Appellants present the following question for our consideration:

Did the trial court err, when it found that Appellees had no duty to protect Appellants from lightning injuries and granted Appe...