Negligence: Duffer’s Dilemma

William Sellers runs a heating-equipment company near Philadelphia, and he plays golf for business rather than pleasure. One June day in 1964, Sellers’ game was running true to format the Manufacturers Golf and Country Club in Oreland, Pa. At the third tee, his mind on a potential deal, Sellers hit the ball so awkwardly that it flew to the rear and struck one of his partners, James Walsh, sales manager of the tank division of Bethlehem Steel in Dunellen, N.J. As a result, Walsh was blinded in his left eye.

Since Sellers was working while golfing, Walsh sued both him and his company for $250,000, claiming that Sellers had negligently failed to wipe his hands before swinging, causing the club to slip. In answer, Sellers moved to have the suit dismissed on a seemingly unassailable ground: anyone who ventures on a golf course “assumes the risk of being struck by a ball” and is thus barred from seeking damages.

To everyone’s surprise, Sellers’ motion was shot down by Judge Alfred Luongo of the Philadelphia U.S. District Court, which had jurisdiction be cause Sellers and Walsh live in different states. Judge Luongo readily agreed that every golfer “assumes the risk or is guilty of contributory negligence if he intentionally or carelessly walks ahead or stands within the orbit of the shot of a person playing behind him.”

But when the ball struck Walsh, said the judge, he was sitting in a golf cart 20 ft. to Sellers’ rear — a place of supposedly perfect safety. As a result, Walsh cannot be said to have “voluntarily assumed the risk” of being partly blinded. Ruled the judge: Duffer-Defendant Sellers must stand trial.