Rachal v. O'Neil

OPINION

Justice SUTTELL, for the Court.

If a twelve-year-old skateboarder “drops in” to a twelve-foot half pipe, the laws of physics tell us that he will reach a velocity of approximately 27.8 feet per second.1 But if that youth tumbles off his skateboard almost instantly after beginning his descent and severely fractures an ankle, the laws of personal injury inevitably take over, and what follows is neither as speedy nor as scientifically precise.

Almost two years after Joseph Rachal’s ill-fated foray into the half pipe at Skater’s Island skate park, his parents (the Ra-chais) filed a complaint…