An April 30, 2010 Opinion of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upheld the dismissal of a PA personal injury claim due to the legal doctrine of assumption of risk. A group of teenage boys decided to build a homemade bomb which they planned to detonate in a remote location to avoid detection. The plaintiff held the bomb while another boy lit the fuse. The device exploded before the personal injury victim had time to throw it.
The explosion tore apart his right hand amputating portions of his right thumb, middle finger and ring finger. The boy’s parents sued all of the other boys involved in building the explosive device. The Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County granted the defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment. The PA Superior Court agreed finding that the defendants did not owe him a duty to safeguard him from the harmful situation he helped create. He also assumed the risk of injury by handling a lit explosive. Montagazzi v. Crisci, 994 A.2d 626 (Pa. Super. 2010)
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