## Facts

- Steeplechase Amusement Co. operated an amusement park at Coney Island featuring a ride known as “The Flopper.”
- The Flopper used a moving belt running upward on an incline; riders stood or sat on the belt and were often thrown off balance and fell, which was part of the attraction.
- The area where riders fell was designed with padded surfaces to lessen the impact of falls.
- Murphy, accompanied by his future wife and friends, observed other patrons tumbling on the ride and then chose to participate.
- When Murphy stepped onto the belt, he experienced a “sudden jerk,” fell, and fractured his kneecap.
- Murphy alleged negligent operation and design, including violent stopping/starting, excessive speed, lack of guards, and inadequate protection for riders unaware of the dangers.
- Murphy also suggested he struck wood rather than padding; the defendant presented evidence that the fall area was padded.

## Issues

1. Whether an amusement-ride operator is liable in negligence when a patron is injured by a risk that is open and obvious and inherent in the ride’s ordinary operation.
2. Whether Murphy’s voluntary participation after observing the ride constituted assumption of risk that negated liability on the negligence theory submitted to the jury.
3. Whether the case, as tried, permitted recovery based on allegedly defective or missing padding rather than the ride’s ordinary movements and resulting falls.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of New York reversed the judgment for Murphy and ordered a new trial.
- The court held that Murphy assumed the risk of being thrown and falling because that danger was obvious, inherent, and necessary to the ride’s nature and was apparent to him before he rode.
- On the theory tried—dangerous operation and obvious risk—there was no actionable negligence because the complained-of “jerk” and fall were within the ride’s ordinary hazards.
- The court noted that inadequate or defective padding could present a different question, but that theory was not the basis on which liability had been submitted to the jury.

## Legal Principles

- A participant in a sport or amusement accepts the dangers inherent in the activity to the extent they are obvious and necessary.
- Primary assumption of risk limits the defendant’s duty as to ordinary, inherent risks of a recreational activity voluntarily encountered.
- Liability may exist for concealed, extraordinary, or non-obvious dangers, or for hazards beyond what a reasonable participant would anticipate.
- A plaintiff cannot recover on a negligence theory not actually submitted and developed at trial, even if the record suggests a potentially different theory of fault.

## Conclusion

Because falling from The Flopper was an open and inherent risk central to the ride’s function and Murphy chose to ride after observing that risk, assumption of risk barred recovery on the negligent-operation theory presented to the jury, requiring reversal and a new trial.


Murphy v. Steeplechase Amusement Co., 250 N.Y. 479, 166 N.E. 173 (N.Y. 1929)