Game Truck Georgia, Llcv.Salvador Reyes Quezada
Salvador Reyes was injured during a bubble-soccer game organized by Game Truck Georgia for a high-school soccer team. He missed the initial safety briefing, charged toward another player, and suffered serious head injuries requiring surgery, with continuing cognitive and sensory problems. A jury found Reyes seven percent responsible and Game Truck 93 percent responsible, awarding five million dollars before apportionment. The Court of Appeals of Georgia held that the trial court should have instructed the jury on the defendant’s assumption-of-risk defense because evidence showed Reyes knew soccer rules, understood the activity, and deliberately ran toward another player. The ordinary-care instruction did not cover the distinct requirements of actual knowledge, appreciation, and voluntary exposure. The court also found no preserved error concerning nonparty fault and no abuse of discretion in admitting the safety expert’s testimony, because the expert did not ultimately rely on unrelated amusement-ride standards. It reversed the judgment and remanded for a new trial.
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