Baska v. Scherzer

Baska (plaintiff) hosted a party where two guests, Scherzer and Madrigal (defendants), got into a fistfight and, while swinging at each other, accidentally struck and injured Baska as she tried to intervene. Baska sued nearly two years later, alleging Scherzer and Madrigal negligently struck her; their depositions confirmed they had meant to hit each other, not her. The trial judge found this was really an assault-and-battery case, not negligence, and dismissed it under the one-year statute of limitations for intentional torts rather than the two-year period for negligence. The court of appeals reversed, applying the negligence limitations period, and Scherzer and Madrigal obtained review in the Kansas Supreme Court.