Paintball legal question

[NewMagMan21]

Has anyone been sued in the sport of paintball...and I dont mean like companys sueing over patents (sp) but people sueing over assault and things like that. And the pertains to only people on the feild willingly playing.
EDIT This idea came to me after reading about Psycho Circus's ref rampage

[MedicDVG]

If you commit a battery (hit someone with malice and intent to do harm) against someone when playing paintball, you are subject to criminal prosecution just as any other person on the street.

If you make threats of bodily harm, this can be considered assault and can be criminally charged as well. This depends on the threats taht were made, and teh attitude of whomever you get as an ivestigating officer. It gets dressed up in "disorderly conduct" or "Making terroristic threats" or "Harassment" many times, but yes you can be criminally liable.

As for civil liability - hell, any yo yo with $50 bucks can file a lawsuit.

[NewMagMan21]

I mean has it happend

[Cow hunter]

i dont think so because if you go and play willingly you know you're going to get hit once and a while...... and i think they have a form (at most fields) you have to sign to protect them and other players from lawsuits

[MedicE11]

i dont think so because if you go and play willingly you know you're going to get hit once and a while...... and i think they have a form (at most fields) you have to sign to protect them and other players from lawsuits

The waiver forms in no shape, form or fashion protect other players from any type of lawsuit. The waiver is there specifically to protect the field itself.

[shartley]

The waiver forms in no shape, form or fashion protect other players from any type of lawsuit. The waiver is there specifically to protect the field itself.

[thefuzz]

No police officer in their right mind would charge someone who went out and to play paintball and shot someone else who went out to play paintball (unless something maliciously violent happened). Trust me I know, I'm a cop. The only paintball players that have been charge are ones that shoot at people who do not want to be shot (ie. drive bys). Trust me I've charged kids who shoot paintball/airsoft guns at people maliciously with aggravated assault (a felony).

Plus the waiver is more of a deterrant to sue the actual paintball field than anything else. It cannot be legally held up in court because it is not a legally binding contract. I could, however, possibly be brought into show that a person who was playing paintball knew that certain injuries could occur while playing.

[Recon by Fire]

Waivers are not worth the paper they are printed on.

[Lohman446]

No police officer in their right mind would charge someone who went out and to play paintball and shot someone else who went out to play paintball (unless something maliciously violent happened). Trust me I know, I'm a cop. The only paintball players that have been charge are ones that shoot at people who do not want to be shot (ie. drive bys). Trust me I've charged kids who shoot paintball/airsoft guns at people maliciously with aggravated assault (a felony).

Plus the waiver is more of a deterrant to sue the actual paintball field than anything else. It cannot be legally held up in court because it is not a legally binding contract. I could, however, possibly be brought into show that a person who was playing paintball knew that certain injuries could occur while playing.

I didn't know police officers made the legal decisions on who to bring charges against or not... It is very hard to get a DA to press charges against someone who participated in a sport knowing the risks, I mean can you charge someone with assault when you are tackled in the course of the game of football. If you want to get really technical you do violate state dueling laws in Michigan when playing paintball.... scarey huh?

Unless someone is injured, and likely by something they claim to not know "was part of the game" or something malicious happens (like the world cup incident) it is highly unlikely a DA is going to have the political motivation to push the issue in criminal court. Even then it is dependent on where, who the DA is, who the victim is, who the aggressors are, and any number of situations.

[thefuzz]

You've been watching too much TV....police officers make the charges, the DAs and ADAs prosecute them. Most of the time charges will be pled down to lesser charges (ie. agg assault down to simple assault) or if there is no validity to the officer's charges, then they will be dropped all together. The DAs aren't out there choosing when to arrest people and when not too. I've not charged people for crimes (mostly juveniles) because I believe other consequences (ie. Wrath of Mom) will be worse. Sometimes I do not have a choice on when to make charges (ie. Domestic Violence) because the law mandates that I must make charges.

[shartley]

You've been watching too much TV....police officers make the charges, the DAs and ADAs prosecute them. Most of the time charges will be pled down to lesser charges (ie. agg assault down to simple assault) or if there is no validity to the officer's charges, then they will be dropped all together. The DAs aren't out there choosing when to arrest people and when not too. I've not charged people for crimes (mostly juveniles) because I believe other consequences (ie. Wrath of Mom) will be worse. Sometimes I do not have a choice on when to make charges (ie. Domestic Violence) because the law mandates that I must make charges.

As a former police officer I have to point out that some of what you posted was not quite the whole story.

Most of the time charges will be pled down to lesser charges (ie. agg assault down to simple assault) or if there is no validity to the officer's charges, then they will be dropped all together. The DAs aren't out there choosing when to arrest people and when not too.

[thefuzz]

Man I guess I'm just blessed in my county because the DAs and ADAs hardly, if ever, refuse to press charges because of monetary reasons. Also I ask for the charges that actually happened, and usually get it from the Magistrate. The magistrates trust that we're making good charges out there, and 99.9% of the time we are.

[shartley]

Man I guess I'm just blessed in my county because the DAs and ADAs hardly, if ever, refuse to press charges because of monetary reasons. Also I ask for the charges that actually happened, and usually get it from the Magistrate. The magistrates trust that we're making good charges out there, and 99.9% of the time we are.

[CrimsonGhost]

Be VERY VERY VERY thankful . You could work in a place like...San Fran , or the rest of the Bay are for that matter. Drug charges...almost ALWAYS dropped , assults on officers...usualy dumbed down to lesser charges...and they wonder why we want more protection under the law.

Then again, possesion is usualy just a probable cause thing to nail them with other things.

Meh, sorry for the ramble.

Best thing to do with the paintball assult bit. Hope the officer on views it OR there is video tape of it that you can get your hands on.

Its a tough deal to make a case when something happen ON FIELD...(for reasons mentioned above) ...if it was in the parking lot and this thing went down...different ball game. The refs may have a chance IF SOMONE pushes it...but most of the time (ca wise) Unless there is a MAJOR injury ...no one does.The way it went down and how far the Company that is running the event and the Refs involved feel about pushing it will make the difference.
Civil case though...hooo boy. Thats a different ball of wax.
They may not serve jail time but, They may wish they had.

[Lohman446]

You've been watching too much TV....police officers make the charges, the DAs and ADAs prosecute them. Most of the time charges will be pled down to lesser charges (ie. agg assault down to simple assault) or if there is no validity to the officer's charges, then they will be dropped all together. The DAs aren't out there choosing when to arrest people and when not too. I've not charged people for crimes (mostly juveniles) because I believe other consequences (ie. Wrath of Mom) will be worse. Sometimes I do not have a choice on when to make charges (ie. Domestic Violence) because the law mandates that I must make charges.

Yeh, cause I'm an idiot and have no understanding of any system. At least in my county, it is the DA that decides to push charges through the court system or not, while an officer on the scene generally has the discretion to arrest or not it is the prosecuting attorney who determines if those offenders are ever indicted or stand trial on charges. I have enough experience with the system to have a base understanding of it... honest. Around here an officer files a report, arrests at there discretion, and then it is the prosecutor who decides if they are indicting someone or making someone stand trial based on the information in that report.

While I understand that most of the time the officer has discretion on if something goes forward or not, there are people farther up the system that have more of a say in it.

Nice try on the watching too much TV though