Sports Lawsuit Filed Against Hockey Executive
A television broadcaster is suing Anaheim Ducks General Manager Bob Murray for assault and battery, accusing the GM of being emotionally unstable, having a “propensity to violence” and showing a “history of aggressive and violent behavior.”
Rachel Paris was apparently hit by a chair thrown by Murray during the Stanley Cup Playoffs while the Ducks were playing the Red Wings in Detroit last May. She was involved in coordinating the broadcast, which meant that she was sitting close by Murray. She filed a lawsuit against Murray and his employer for her injuries.
The interesting thing about this lawsuit is not that it also names the Ducks as a defendant, but it is the legal theory asserted against the team. Count III of the lawsuit accuses the hockey team of negligence. The allegations made in the complaint are extreme. First, the plaintiff alleges that the Ducks had a duty to ensure that their employees were “reasonably and emotionally stable.” Second, they had a duty to ensure that their employees “did not have a propensity to violence” and that their employees “with a history of aggressive and violent behavior were properly supervised.” Next, they are alleged to have violated their duty to “have known of the propensity of violence” of Murray and to have known about “Bob Murray’s violent and aggressive nature.”
The assault and battery counts are not necessarily surprising. Even the intentional infliction of emotional distress count is not surprising. These are standard allegations in such a lawsuit. Bringing a negligence claim also is not a big shock, but the surprise is that the plaintiff has apparently set an enormous hurdle to prove negligence. She will have to prove Bob Murray’s emotional instability; show his “propensity of violence” and prove that he had a “history of aggressive and violent behavior.”
I do not know if Murray has a temper or a violent history. He spent 15 years playing for the Chicago Blackhawks, so we can assume he got into a few fights over the years, but that is not an apt comparison. As a lawyer I think it may have made more sense to allege simple negligence against Murray himself rather than making such extreme allegations against the team. Having to prove his history of violence will probably not be an easy task.
