Marchetti v. Kalish

In Marchetti v. Kalish (1990), 53 Ohio St.3d 95, 559 N.E.2d 699, the parties were engaged in a variation of the game of "kick the can." The defendant, who had been called "it," continued to run at the plaintiff who was standing on "base," in this case, a ball. Although he was supposed to stop, the defendant collided with the plaintiff and kicked the ball out from under her "in frustration," which caused her to fall. Marchetti at 101, fn. 4. The court did not find the defendant's action to be outside the foreseeable and customary part of the activity, or that such action was reckless or intentional. Id. at 100. The Supreme Court stated that: "Where individuals engage in recreational or sports activities, they assume the ordinary risks of the activity and cannot recover for any injury unless it can be shown that the other participant's actions were either 'reckless' or 'intentional' as defined in Sections 500 and 8A ofthe Restatement of Torts 2d. " "A player who injures another player in the course of a sporting event by conduct that is a foreseeable, customary part of the sport cannot be held liable for negligence because no duty is owed to protect the victim from that conduct." Thompson v. McNeill (1990), 53 Ohio St.3d 102, 559 N.E.2d 705, paragraph two of the syllabus.