Wright v. City of San Bernardino High School District

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an action for damages for personal injuries sustained by the minor plaintiff while a member of a physical education class conducted by the school district. The teacher of the class, Ralph Simpson, was originally made a defendant but the action was dismissed as to him and went

[343]

to trial as against the school district only. At the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence the court granted the district’s motion for a judgment of nonsuit, and the plaintiffs have appealed.

There is no dispute as to the facts. Gerald Wright, a 16-year-old junior in this high school, was a member of the tennis and handball class conducted by the district. This class was composed of members of the varsity tennis team, the team’s managers and those who aspired to make the team. Wright, who wore rimless glasses, had been a member of the class that year and the year before.

On the day in question the teacher, who acted as tennis coach, needed the usual class time to make the bracketings for a tennis tournament, a school activity, which was to be held that afternoon. He met the class at the beginning of the period and told them there would be no supervised activity that morning; that they were to remain in the vicinity of the dressing room or foyer of the gymnasium “until we could work out the bracketing”; and that roll would be taken at the close of the period. He then went into the coach’s office, which opened on the foyer with a Dutch door, the lower half of which was closed, and was working on the bracketing with the assistance of some members of the class. During the period he passed several times through the foyer and knew that there were boys in the gymnasium, but did not enter that room to see what they were doing.

After the teacher’s announcement several of the boys put on tennis shoes and entered the gymnasium to play handball. This was done by batting a tennis ball against one wall with their hands. Wright and another boy were playing this game on the west half of the gymnasium floor and six other boys were playing the same game on the east half. Other boys were sitting around watching the activities.

Sometime during the class period two boys, Evans and Griffin, started a different game between the two handball games. In this game Evans would throw a tennis ball toward Griffin, who would bat the ball back with a tennis racquet swung like a baseball bat. The ball was thrown “hard” at times. This was not the usual manner of playing tennis, and had not been previously used during a class period. During the course of his handball game Wright would at times come within 2 or 3 feet of the line of play between Evans and Griffin. When the shower bell rang, near the close of the period, Wright was 3 or 4 feet to the west of the line of activity between Evans and Griffin. As the bell rang, he