Kickball Injury Claims Against School Kicked Out of Court

In the case of Turner v. Lower Merion School District, No. 657 C.D. 2023 (Pa.Cmwlth. May 10, 2024 Wojcik, J., Wallace, J., Leavitt, S.J.)(Op. by Wallace, J.), the court affirmed the trial court’s decision in a personal injury case arising out of a kickball game at a school.   

The Commonwealth Court held that the Plaintiff’s lawsuit did not fall within the real property exception to governmental immunity where the Plaintiff’s claims stemmed from an injury caused by personalty rather than realty. More specifically, the case involved a temporary kickball base that was not affixed to the ground and which slid out from under the high school student during a physical education class.   

As such, the Commonwealth Court affirmed the trial court's entry of a judgment on the pleadings in favor of the Defendant based upon governmental immunity and kicked the case out of court.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.

Source:  Law.com, “The Legal Intelligencer State Appellate Case Alert” (May 29, 2024)