Rosenthal v Arlington Central School District

Defendant moved for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s complaint against school for an alleged injury on school grounds. The infant plaintiff was allegedly injured while participating in a baseball game during gym class. The students were playing with a foam-like ball and a foam bat with a plastic handle. While waiting in line, plaintiff was struck in the nose by a bat that another student let go of while swinging. Plaintiff was in a designated safety zone surrounded by orange safety cones located 25 feet away from the batter.

A teacher’s duty is to supervise his or her student’s by exercising the same care as a parent would in similar circumstances. The defendant took reasonable and prudent measures to ensure the safety of the children engaged in this physical activity by providing students with foam equipment and having them wait in a safety zone until it was their turn to bat. The plaintiffs failed to establish any triable issues of fact. No evidence shows that the school district and supervising teachers failed to exercise the appropriate level of care nor that the safety precautions taken were inadequate.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint.