Phillips v. American Hapkido Mixed Martial Arts Studio CA2/6

Filed 3/18/14 Phillips v. American Hapkido Mixed Martial Arts Studio CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

ROBERT AND MIGA PHILLIPS, 2d Civil No. B249116 (Super. Ct. No. 56-2011-00398454) Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Ventura County)

v.

AMERICAN HAPKIDO MIXED MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO and RENATO SUSIM,

Defendants and Respondents.

Robert Phillips (Phillips) and his wife, Miga Phillips, appeal from the judgment entered after the trial court granted motions for summary judgment filed by respondents American Hapkido, Inc., (American Hapkido) and Renato Susim. Appellants claim that Phillips suffered a stroke as a result of a blow to the head at a martial arts school operated by American Hapkido. They contend that the trial court erred in granting the motions for summary judgment because they had raised triable issues of material fact concerning respondents' alleged negligence and recklessness. We affirm. Facts Phillips, who was experienced in martial arts, was punched in the head by Susim during an evening "contact sparring session." "Contact sparring is where contact is made by a fist or kick to the body." The sparring session was supervised by Joseph Gutierrez,

an employee of American Hapkido. Gutierrez, who had "been participating in martial arts for 17 years," was "in charge of teaching [contact sparring] on the night in question." Gutierrez explained that in contact sparring "[t]he force that is allowed is light contact," also referred to as "kiss contact," which is "like you're trying to kiss your grandmother." A person throwing a punch is supposed to pull the punch as soon as or before contact is made. According to Susim, he "threw a jab" and Phillips stepped "forward into the punch." According to Phillips, Susim "was sparring harder than he normally did" and "hit [him] with a combination jabbing cross." Phillips complained to Gutierrez that he had " 'got rocked' " by Susim's punch. Gutierrez told Susim that the punch " 'was a little hard' " and that he should " 'tone it down.' " "Gutierrez testified in his deposition that he saw Susim throw a jab and Phillips walked into it." During the sparring session, Phillips was wearing Century P-2 headgear with a plastic faceguard. Susim's "punch pushed the [faceguard] in and cut the bridge of [Philips's] nose." Appellants claim that, as a result of the blow, Philips "suffered a stroke, secondary to dissection of the right internal carotid artery at the base of the skull." Complaint The complaint alleges two causes of action against respondents. One cause of action is for negligence. It alleges that (1) respondents "negligently operated, managed, maintained, taught, instructed, and/or participated in physical activities, which resulted in injuries and damages to [appellants]"; and (2) American Hapkido knew or should have known that the heardgear used by its students "was unreasonably dangerous," but it "continued to market the product to consumers including [Phillips], where there were safer alternatives." The other cause of action was for loss of consortium by Phillips's wife. Summary Judgment `Principles "The purpose of the law of summary judgment is to provide courts with a mechanism to cut through the parties' pleadings in order to determine whether, despite their allegations, trial is in fact necessary to resolve their dispute. [Citation.]" (Aguilar v.