NEWARK, N.J. - A divided New Jersey Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman who was injured by a puck during warm-ups at a minor-league hockey game in Trenton.
Denise M. Sciarrotta of Lawrenceville had argued that proper safeguards could have prevented her permanent brain damage. She noted that dozens of pucks are in play during warm-ups, compared with just one during a game.
The hockey team - then the Trenton Titans, now the Trenton Devils - maintained that it had taken appropriate safety measures, and that having different standards for warm-ups and games was not practical.
A 4-3 majority found that the team complied with state law, which requires screening in certain areas.
"Simply said, to demand separate and distinct duties of care in respect of the same peril in the same area based solely on the temporary goings-on on the field of play is impractical and not grounded in reason," Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto wrote. He was joined by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justices Jaynee LaVecchia and Helen E. Hoens.
The dissent, written by Justice Virginia Long, said Sciarrotta should have been warned about the risks of flying pucks and suggested a sign could have been posted.
"In essence, we recognize a duty where foreseeable events that pose a risk of harm require palliative action by those able to prevent the harm. Included within the scope of that duty is the obligation to warn of known or apparent dangers," wrote Long, joined by Justices Barry T. Albin and John E. Wallace Jr.
Sciarrotta's lawyer, Lara R. Lovett, said they were disappointed in the decision, which cannot be appealed.
"I don't think it bodes well for spectators," she said.
Sciarrotta has memory problems but is able to work at times at the restaurant she owns with her husband, Lovett said.
A lawyer for the hockey team, Scott D. Samansky, said the court had "recognized that the duty that was in existence at the time was complied with."
The decision largely preserves the status of the law in New Jersey, where, as in many states, spectators take a chance when they enter a sports arena or stadium, said Joe Capobianco, a New York lawyer who was not involved in the New Jersey case.
No federal law governs spectator injuries due to action on the field, and states generally mandate that fans assume some risk when they go to a game, Capobianco said. Had the Supreme Court allowed the lawsuit to proceed, it would have expanded liability for sports operators, he said.
The state Supreme Court made it tougher for baseball clubs in fall 2005 when it sided with a baseball fan who was hit with a foul ball while in line to buy beer.
The added burden, however, was short-lived. Within months, the Legislature passed a law barring spectators from suing club owners "for injury resulting from the inherent dangers and risks of observing professional baseball."
The bill was titled the New Jersey Baseball Spectator Safety Act of 2005, although it was the owners who got protection. Then-Gov. Richard J. Codey signed it into law early in 2006.
Sciarrotta had gone to the Sovereign Bank Arena on Jan. 4, 2003, to watch her daughter, Ashley, and her school choir sing the national anthem before a game.
Sciarrotta, 38 at the time, was seated along the side of the rink, higher than the clear, plastic barrier that encircles the ice. The sides of hockey rinks are not protected by the netting that shields spectators behind the goals. The NHL and other leagues mandated the nets after a puck killed an Ohio girl in 2002.
During warm-ups, a puck ricocheted off a goal post and slammed into Sciarrotta's head. Blood poured from a gash above her left temple. More than five years later, Sciarrotta said, she bears a 21/2-inch scar and permanent brain damage.
"I never saw it coming toward me. I felt like I was shot in the head," Sciarrotta said last year.
Alleging negligence in allowing a dangerous condition and failing to provide proper safeguards, Sciarrotta sued the team, the East Coast Hockey League, and the arena. She and her lawyers don't know which player shot the puck.