Facts

The City of Chino Hills owns the real property where Big League Dreams Chino Hills LLC manages a commercial softball facility. The facility is equipped with six softball playing fields that are built as scaled-down replicas of famous ballparks such as Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Tiger Stadium.

Plaintiff's decedent Jamil Homsi Tanagho was age 31 on May 27, 2022 when he died due to a sudden cardiac arrest while playing in an adult-league softball game at the facility. Live streaming video of the incident depicted decedent falling to the ground due to cardiac arrest after being thrown out at first base, and receiving chest compressions performed by teammates for approximately 10 minutes before paramedics arrived at the scene. There were no Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) or Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) present at the facility when the incident occurred.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff alleged that defendants were grossly negligent in the maintenance and operation of the facility by failing to have EMTs and AEDs present to assist players and spectators in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest. Plaintiff contended that a liability waiver signed by decedent was invalid for multiple reasons including small font size, and that the liability waiver did not bar Plaintiff's claims of gross negligence.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendants contended that decedent, on behalf of himself and his heirs, had waived claims of negligence against defendants when decedent signed a liability waiver in conjunction with his use of the facility and participation in the softball game, and that Plaintiff's allegations did not rise to the level of gross negligence.

Result

The court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment, ruling that the liability waiver is valid, and that there was no triable issue of material fact as to gross negligence - the allegations did not rise to the level of gross negligence as a matter of law.