## Facts

- Edward C. and Janis C., individually and as parents of minor children, sued after a child was struck in the head by a baseball at a professional baseball stadium.
- The incident occurred during pre-game batting practice at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque.
- The child was seated with family in a picnic area beyond the left-field wall, located in fair-ball territory.
- The picnic area was not screened and was used for a pre-game Little League party where attendees were eating and socializing.
- Plaintiffs alleged batting practice began without warning and a baseball struck the child, fracturing the child’s skull.
- Plaintiffs asserted negligence against the stadium owner (City of Albuquerque) and stadium operator/tenant (Albuquerque Baseball Club, L.L.C., d/b/a Albuquerque Isotopes), among others, for failing to protect persons in the picnic area from balls leaving the field of play.

## Issues

1. What duty owner/occupants of commercial baseball stadiums owe to protect spectators or guests from projectiles leaving the field of play.
2. Whether New Mexico should apply a categorical limited-duty “baseball rule” or evaluate liability under ordinary-care negligence principles with comparative fault.
3. Whether summary judgment was proper for the City and the Isotopes on the theory that providing screened seats behind home plate satisfies their duty as a matter of law.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of New Mexico rejected the traditional categorical limited-duty “baseball rule” as the controlling standard.
- The Court held that owner/occupants of commercial baseball stadiums owe a duty of ordinary care that corresponds to the spectator’s duty of ordinary care.
- The owner/occupant’s duty is to avoid increasing the inherent risk of being struck by projectiles that is part of baseball.
- Because the case required fact-sensitive evaluation under ordinary negligence and comparative fault, summary judgment for the City and the Isotopes on a categorical limited-duty rationale was improper.

## Legal Principles

- In New Mexico, injuries to spectators from balls leaving the field are governed by ordinary-care negligence principles, not a categorical rule satisfied solely by providing screened seats in a particular area.
- A commercial stadium owner/occupant must exercise ordinary care not to increase the inherent risks associated with attending a baseball game.
- Spectators and guardians also must exercise ordinary care for their own safety; fault is allocated under comparative fault rather than barred by rigid assumption-of-risk concepts.
- Whether a stadium increased inherent risk may depend on circumstances such as the configuration and use of nontraditional viewing areas, warnings, and the timing and manner of pre-game activities.

## Conclusion

New Mexico applies an ordinary-care, comparative-fault framework to spectator injuries from baseball projectiles, requiring stadium owner/occupants to act reasonably and not increase the game’s inherent risks, while leaving breach and fault allocation to case-specific factfinding rather than a categorical limited-duty baseball rule.


Edward C. v. City of Albuquerque, 241 P.3d 1086 (N.M. 2010)