The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) established the legal precedent that service providers offering extreme sports activities are liable for civil damages if they have not taken the necessary measures to reduce the risk of serious incidents that could occur during the practice of such sports.
The established criterion is set forth in the judgment No. SCJ-PS-22-2217 dated July 29, 2022, regarding a claim for damages arising from a case involving the practice of the sport of parasailing or paravelism, which was marketed to them as a service or a tourist activity.
The decision, rendered by Judge Pilar Jiménez Ortiz (presiding) and Judges Justiniano Montero Montero, Samuel Arias Arzeno, and Napoleón R. Estévez Lavandier, acknowledges, upon analyzing the case, that although participants assume and acknowledge—at least implicitly—a higher level of risk than that associated with sports activities under less extreme circumstances, service providers are obligated to take the necessary measures to ensure that the activity is carried out as safely as possible.
“It is no less true that the entities and individuals that provide and assist in the provision of services related to the practice of sports in this category must necessarily carry out the work of supervising and ensuring the necessary and feasible conditions to reduce the risk of harmful incidents that might occur, an obligation that extends not only to the evaluation and maintenance of the equipment to be used, but also to the verification of the natural conditions under which the activity they provide can be carried out in the safest manner possible,” explains the ruling.
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