Mama can I hit my enemy with a loose shot in golf - it’s not a crime!
Injuring an eye with a golf ball is not a crime according to the New York State Court.
Azad Anand, a neuroradiologist by professional sued Anoop Kapoor an amateur golfer for injuring his eye with an errant shot at the Dix Hills Golf Course in 2002. The injury caused Anand, one eye blinded completely. The plaintiff claimed that Kapoor did not
warn him by saying ‘fore’ after he realised that the ball was in his direction. Fore is a term used in golf since the 18th century to warn others of an errant shot. It originated from the term ‘beware before,’ once used in battles.
The New York State Court of Appeals have ruled out the case giving a statement that Kapoor was innocent according to the sports laws and hence was not obliged for any type of damages. The reasoning presented by the jurisdiction was backed by a fact that
Anand was not in the intended path of the ball, thereby, the act was not a criminal offence. Moreover, he emphasised a clause that once a golfer aims to step on a golf course, he/ she is ready for all kinds of injuries that can be caused by the sports.
The statement has stirred confusion in the golf and lawyer lobbies. According to Carl Tobias, a professor of law at the University of Richmond, “What this now means is that when you play golf in New York, you are only liable for hitting someone if that person
is in front of you.”
In response to this comment Dalton B. Floyd, a lawyer in Surfside Beach, S.C., who deals in golf-related lawsuits said, “There is an inherent risk in golf that not everybody is going to hit a straight shot. It is different, however, if you are driving the
ball and you normally hit 200 yards, there is a person 150 yards out, and you hit them and do not yell fore. In that case you have to warn them and if you don’t you are liable.”
No matter what the court and law professors say, Azad Anand is ready to take the case to the next level. In 2007, he placed an appeal in California State Court and a similar rule was passed. It seems like Anand has no chance on winning money through an
injury caused by an errant shot.
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