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‘Through Legal Eyes’ (Touchline – Issue
12) touched upon the potential liability
exposure sporting clubs may face
when individuals suffer personal injury
while participating in sporting events at
the club’s premises. If the event giving
rise to the injury was being conducted
by an unincorporated association,
which does not have a distinct legal
identity separate from its members,
the association’s office holders could
potentially be exposed to personal
liability to the injured claimant.
Whilst it is impossible to completely
immunise
an
unincorporated
association’s office bearers from
exposure to liability, there are some
steps that such associations can take
to manage the risk associated with
such claims.
IDENTIFYING THE RISKS
The critical factor that may give rise to
liability is the extent of control which
office bearers could exercise over
the event or activity which led to the
claimant’s injury. The importance of
immediate control over the event is
illustrated in the following decisions.
POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO
NON–MEMBERS
In Agar v Hyde (2000) HCA 41 the High
Court of Australia found that members
of the International Rugby Football
Board which was responsible for
formulating rugby union rules did not
exercise the necessary level of control
to give rise to a duty of care to a plaintiff
who had suffered catastrophic injuries
during a rugby union match.
In Haynes v Prowse (2001)
NSWCA 328, the plaintiff was a
baseball player who broke his leg while
attempting to reach second base during
a game between his teamand the Junee
Brewers at the Brewers’ home field.
The Wagga Wagga District Baseball
Association was responsible for the
administration, playing and control
of baseball games between member
clubs. Members of the Junee Brewers
Baseball Club had been responsible
for positioning the bases on the field
and had securely fixed the bases to the
ground rather than allowing them some
degree of movement which might have
avoided theplaintiff’s injury. Theplaintiff
commenced proceedings against the
office bearers of the Association and
the Junee Brewers Baseball Club.
The plaintiff succeeded at trial and
the Court of Appeal dismissed the
defendants’ appeal against the trial
judge’s findings of liability. The Court of
Appeal noted that the decision in Agar
was relevant to the potential exposure
of the District Baseball Association
but noted that this point had not been
raised at trial.
In light of the decision in Agar, office
bearers of unincorporated associations
responsible for administrative activities
such as formulating rules are likely to
be too far removed from the immediate
control of contests to give rise to a duty
of care to participants. However, office
bearers of unincorporated associations
responsible for hosting other teams
(such as the Junee Brewers in Haynes)
could be exposed to liability to visiting
players for injuries arising from the
state of playing surfaces or, in the
case of Haynes, the manner in which
equipment is positioned on the field.
LIABILITY TO THIRD PARTIES
In Hrybynyuk v Mazur (2004)
NSWCA 374 the plaintiff was a member
of an unincorporated association who
sustained extensive injuries while
HAVE YOUR OFFICE HOLDERS BEEN
LEFT HOLDING THE LIABILITY BALL?
JAMES MCINTYRE
, SPECIAL COUNSEL WITH DLA PIPER AUSTRALIA AND
KRISTIE SWAINSTON
, GRADUATE LAWYER, INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL
FOR ASSOCIATION OFFICE HOLDERS TO BE HELD LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE WHEN
INJURIES OCCUR ON THE SPORTING FIELD.
touchline
28
Through Legal Eyes
A fixed base at Junee Brewers home field was likely to have contributed to injury.
Photo By Brandonrush