Hackers Beware of Golf Shots Which Could Give Rise to Negligence Claims |
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Description | Landowner adjacent to golf course sues country club on nuisance, assault and battery and negligence claims when hit by errant golf ball; Supreme Court of Rhode Island reverses summary judgement for defendant in part and affirms only negligence claim. |
Topic | Torts |
Key Words | Negligence, Warning; Assumption of Risk |
C A S E S U M M A R Y | |
Facts | Hennessey lived in a condo next to a crook in a dogleg on the 11th hole of a golf course. Her back yard began 14 feet from the out-of-bounds marker on the fairway. She claimed her condo was hit an average of ten times a day for the five years prior to her being hit on the side of the head one morning when she was looking at flowers in her front yard. Pyne, the golfer who hit her, was the assistant pro at the course. He did not yell at her because he did not see her. Hennessey sued for assault and battery, nuisance, and negligence. Pyne replied that he was dubious that his ball hit her; he was sure it hit the side of the building, and he asserted that she assumed the risk of injury by living where she did. Summary judgment for Pyne (and the country club). Pyne was involved in a lawful and intended use of the golf course. Hennessey appealed. |
Decision |
Affirmed in part; reversed in part. There was no
nuisance. That "arises from the unreasonable use of one's property that
materially interferes with a neighbor's physical comfort or ... use of ... real
estate." This was not an unreasonable use of the property in question. There
was no assault or battery. "Hennessey was not even aware of Pyne's presence
on the tee, much less did she apprehend any injury from the errant golf ball that
struck her. Thus, a claim for assault will not lie in these circumstances."
Hennessey did not intend to cause "an offensive contact with or unconsented
touching of or trauma upon" Hennessey, so no battery. The negligence claim
stands. It "could encompass three discrete theories :
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Citation | Hennessey v. Pyne, 694 A.2d 691 (Sup. Ct., R.I., 1997) |
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