Should adults who are injured after deliberately putting themselves at risk expect to be compensated? Kris Lines and Jon Heshka report
“Adults who choose to engage in physical activities which obviously give rise to a degree of unavoidable risk may find that they have no means of recompense if the risk materialises so that they are injured” (see Poppleton v Trustees of the Portsmouth Youth Activities Committee [2008] EWCA Civ 646, [1] (May LJ), [2008] All ER (D) 150 (Jun)). With these opening lines, the Court of Appeal reasserted a return to common sense and traditional legal principles and dispelled the modern myth of a compensation culture in sport. Indeed, such a stance is particularly welcome in activities where the claimant has intentionally sought a risk and which eventuates with ultimately tragic consequences.
In Gary Poppleton's case, these consequences were tetraplegia caused through his participation in bouldering — a form of low-to-the-ground free climbing performed without the aid of ropes. On 12 February 2002, he was part of a group bouldering at an indoor climbing centre in Portsmouth. However,
