Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: violent disturbing of the peace

The incidents you mentioned, the Pacers-Pistons brawl, and the 1997 Tyson-Holyfield fight, raise so many legal issues that law students should study them: Negligence. Battery. Assumption of risk. Respondeat superior.

The analysis, however, starts with the issue of Duty. We all have duties imposed by law. You and I have a duty not to collide with the car in front of us and to refrain from assaultive behavior, among many other duties that the law imposes. Sports fans have a duty not to throw beer or popcorn. Sports arenas have a duty to provide an adequate level of security and to eject unruly patrons. Pro athletes have a duty not to ever, ever go into the stands after fans, no matter what, and to limit physical contact with other participants to that inherent in the sport.

Fans usually are said to "assume the risk" of injury inherent in the sport, such as being injured by batted baseballs or hockey pucks (read the back of your ticket stub). If you are sitting courtside and Derek Fisher follows a basketball out of bounds and collides with you, neither Fish nor the Golden State Warriors are liable no matter how badly you were hurt. If you were punched by Ron Artest, you probably have a good lawsuit against Artest, the ballclub and the arena (this is why they came down so hard on Artest). If you are an NFL player and you are tackled during a game and paralyzed for life, your sole remedy is to file for workers' compensation.

If Tyson had broken Holyfield's nose with a legal punch, Tyson would have had no liability. But Holyfield did not assume the risk of having his ear bitten off. I attended the Tyson-Holyfield fight and I have always wondered whether Holyfield sued Tyson for battery, or whether fans who were shot, trampled, or otherwise injured in the ensuing riot at the MGM Grand were able to sue Tyson or the MGM. Normally there is no civil or criminal liability as between participants in a sport, but remember a couple of years ago there was an NHL player who was criminally charged after an especially vicious highsticking incident.

Your message raises so many interesting questions. There are dividing lines between sporting behavior that is non-actionable (assumption of risk) and actionable/criminal. Often it is difficult to discern where the line should be drawn. Finding these blurry lines is the task of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and other lawyers, and ultimately judges and juries.