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Ochoa v. California State University6/15/1999
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
COPY
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Sacramento County. Joe S. Gray, Judge. Affirmed.
Plaintiff John Ochoa appeals following the dismissal of his personal injury complaint against defendant California State University on summary judgment. He contends that a triable issue of fact exists as to whether defendant had a duty to protect him against the injury he suffered at the hands of an opposing player in an intramural soccer game. We disagree. We also find that summary judgment could appropriately have been granted on alternative theory raised by defendant. Accordingly, we shall affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In the evening of April 15, 1996, an indoor intramural soccer game was held at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), between two teams of CSUS students: plaintiff's team, which represented Sierra Hall, a student dormitory, and a team representing the Hmong University Student Association (HUSA), on which co-defendant Thoa played.
The game was the opening contest in an intramural competition held under the auspices of Recreational Sports (Rec Sports), which is described in the "Campus Recreation Guide" as "a service program of the CSUS Student Activities Office." Rec Sports is primarily funded by student fees allocated by Associated Students Inc. (ASI), a non-profit corporation which represents students in matters of CSUS governance and provides them with services and grants, but is a separate corporate entity from CSUS. The referees of the soccer game and the "student supervisor" who oversaw them were employees of ASI.
The student supervisor had refereed approximately 30 soccer games and had previously stopped games that appeared on the verge of violence, as Rec Sports regulations authorized him to do. There were two referees on the field during the game, each covering half the field.
According to the referees, the game was uneventful up until just before the altercation between plaintiff and Thoa, which took place during the second half. According to Thoa, however, in the five to ten minutes before the altercation there was escalating roughness, with uncalled fouls, pushing and shoving, and other forms of combative conduct, and the referees did not control these problems.
Shortly after a HUSA player tried to score, the Sierra Hall goalie ran forward and slide-tackled the HUSA player. They appeared to be struggling. According to Thoa, the referees did not blow the whistle or shout "stop."
Thoa approached the combatants. Thinking he saw an opposing player's fist swinging toward him, Thoa threw a punch. It caught plaintiff on the jaw. According to the referee nearest to the scene, Thoa's act happened too quickly for him to intervene, but he pulled Thoa and plaintiff apart as soon as the punch was thrown.
The referees immediately stopped the game and called the police.
Plaintiff sued CSUS in tort, alleging that CSUS negligently failed to supervise the game "and to instruct the participants therein relative to their conduct . . . ." Thoa's battery of plaintiff was the direct, proximate and foreseeable result of such negligence. Therefore, CSUS was liable to plaintiff pursuant to Government Code sections 815.2, subdivision (a), 815.4, and 820. (All further undesignated section references are to the Government Code.)
After answering the complaint, CSUS moved for summary judgment on three grounds:
"1. CSUS had no duty to plaintiff."
"2. Even if it had a duty, it did not breach that duty."
"3. CSUS was immune from liability under sec
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