## Facts

- Mandalay Sports Entertainment, LLC owned and operated the Las Vegas 51s minor league baseball team at Cashman Field in Clark County, Nevada.
- Kathleen and Michael Turner were season-ticket holders from 2000 to 2002.
- Tickets stated the holder assumed dangers incidental to the game, including injury from thrown or batted balls; the stadium also gave pregame public-address warnings and posted gate signs warning spectators to stay alert for foul balls.
- On May 4, 2002, the Turners went to the “Beer Garden,” a concession area on an upper concourse with tables, chairs, and a railing; it was several hundred feet from the field and had no protective screen.
- Michael Turner stood at the railing watching the game; Kathleen Turner sat at a table to eat and testified she could not see the field from where she sat.
- A foul ball entered the Beer Garden and struck Kathleen Turner in the face, causing loss of consciousness, a broken nose, and facial lacerations; she testified she did not see the ball and had no opportunity to avoid it.
- Other areas at the stadium (the “Party Zone” and “Club Level Restaurant”) were protected from stray balls by screening or an enclosure.

## Issues

1. Whether a baseball stadium owner/operator owes a duty under Nevada negligence and premises-liability law to protect spectators from injuries caused by foul balls.
2. If a duty exists, whether the duty is limited (e.g., to providing screened seating and warnings) or extends to screening additional stadium areas such as concession locations.
3. Whether, on undisputed facts, Mandalay breached any duty to Kathleen Turner by not screening the Beer Garden or providing additional protections or warnings.

## Decision

- The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Mandalay on negligence, loss of consortium, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
- The court held stadium owners and operators owe a limited duty to protect spectators from foul-ball injuries.
- The court concluded Mandalay satisfied that limited duty as a matter of law, so no triable issue of breach existed.

## Legal Principles

- Nevada negligence and premises-liability principles govern spectator-injury claims; duty is defined by foreseeability and policy, not by an obligation to eliminate all risk.
- The risk of being struck by a foul ball is a known and obvious danger inherent in attending a baseball game; this informs the scope of the duty owed.
- A stadium operator’s duty regarding foul balls is limited and can be satisfied by providing adequately screened seating where risk is greatest and by giving reasonable warnings; the operator is not required to screen every seat or area in the facility.
- Where material facts are undisputed and reasonable factfinders could not differ on the absence of breach under the limited-duty standard, summary judgment is proper.

## Conclusion

The court recognized a limited duty for baseball stadium operators concerning foul balls and held that providing screened seating options and prominent warnings satisfied that duty as a matter of law, warranting judgment for the operator despite an injury in an unscreened concession area.


Turner v. Mandalay Sports Ent. LLC, 124 Nev. 213, 180 P.3d 1172 (Nev. 2008)