Rudolph v. Arizona B.A.S.S. Federation

Arizona Court of Appeals

898 P.2d 1000 (1995)

Relevant factsFree

GCBB (defendant) sponsored a bass tournament on a crowded, 2,700-acre recreational lake, using only a single weigh-in station and a strict 1:00 p.m. cutoff that pressured competitors to rush back. Minutes before the deadline, jet-ski rider Heather Rudolph and a passenger were struck and killed by a competing boat; her parents (plaintiffs) sued GCBB and others for wrongful death, and the trial court granted GCBB summary judgment on the ground it had no special relationship with Heather and owed her no duty.

IssueFree

Whether, to support a claim of negligence, a plaintiff must show that a defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care and that the defendant's breach of that duty caused the plaintiff's injury.

Holding & reasoning

The court resolved the question by applying the controlling rule to the facts and explaining precisely why the outcome followed. Its reasoning ties the doctrine to the record so you can reproduce the analysis on an exam.

Procedural history, concurrence & dissent

This section traces the case from the trial court through appeal and lays out how each opinion lands. Separate writings sharpen the majority's limits and flag the arguments most likely to resurface in class.

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