I know this is a New York lawsuit, but it could set an unfortunate precedent for track and racers liability, at least for New York race tracks.

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index...._pit_area.html


Fulton racetrack and driver must pay $635,000 to DeWitt man injured in pit area

Fulton, NY -- A DeWitt man who is confined to a wheelchair after being injured at the Fulton Speedway in 2009 won $635,000 from the racetrack and a race driver.

Frederick Knight, 75, was in the pit area of the racetrack, looking at the schedule of upcoming races, when he was struck by a race car in reverse, said his lawyer, Timothy Murphy.

Knight, a retired truck driver, endured seven surgeries and three months in the hospital for a fractured hip, Murphy said. Infections during his recovery left him unable to get around without a wheelchair.

A jury decided this week that the racetrack was negligent for not having a traffic pattern in an area with pedestrians. The dirt pit area had no lines or anything to mark where pedestrians should stand.

The driver, Robert Holland, was found to have been going too fast in reverse, Murphy said.

A lawyer for the racetrack's insurance company defended both the track and the driver during the trial, Murphy said.

Knight, who raced himself decades ago, was at the track watching his son race. He had signed a waiver as part of his ticket allowing him access to the pit area. But state Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood ruled that the waiver did not apply to spectators, but only to racers who assumed the dangers of racing.

It's the second waiver-related racetrack lawsuit in Central New York recently. A man successfully sued Cortland County's Skyline Raceway after signing a pit waiver, then later falling off the side of the bleachers after suffering a heart attack.

A judge in that case ruled that the waiver didn't keep the racetrack from being sued over not having railings on the bleachers. The case settled out of court.