Jun 30, 2009 5:17 pm US/Pacific
Burned Man Loses Bid To Sue Burning Man Festival
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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Flames seen at a previous Burning Man Festival.
A man who was burned at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada in 2005 when he threw a friend's photograph into the flames lost a bid to a state appeals court in San Francisco Tuesday to sue the event promoter.
The Court of Appeal said Anthony Beninati voluntarily chose to take part in a dangerous activity when he approached the burning 40-foot wooden statue for the purpose of throwing a photo of a deceased friend into the bonfire.
A three-judge appeals panel unanimously ruled that the promoter, San Francisco-based Black Rock City LLC, was protected by a legal doctrine known as assumption of risk.
Beninati's hands were badly burned when he tripped and fell into the fire on Sept. 3, 2005. He sought to sue the promoter for negligence in San Francisco Superior Court in 2006 and appealed after a trial judge dismissed the lawsuit last year.
But a three-judge appeals panel unanimously upheld Superior Court Judge Paul Alvardo's conclusion that the assumption-of-risk doctrine protected Black Rock City from liability.
Under that doctrine, people who voluntarily engage in inherently dangerous activities such as skiing and touch football can't sue over injuries suffered during the activities.
Justice Ignazio Ruvolo wrote, "The risk of injury to those who voluntarily decide to partake in the commemorative ritual at Burning Man is self-evident."
Ruvolo wrote that "the risk of falling and being burned by the flames or hot ash was inherent, obvious, and necessary to the event, and Beninati assumed such risk."
Ray Allen, a government relations and legal affairs manager for Black Rock City, said, "It's unfortunate that Mr. Beninati suffered injuries, but the ruling was fair. The court found that he had assumed the risk."
A lawyer for Beninati was not available for comment on the decision, which could be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The festival, held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada since 1990, features the burning of a 40-foot wooden effigy of a man atop a similarly tall platform at sundown on the Saturday before Labor Day each year.
Beninati approached the bonfire in 2005 after the statute and platform had begun to burn and had collapsed. After throwing his friend's photo into the flames, he took a few more steps forward and tripped and fell into the fire, badly burning both hands, according to his lawsuit.
Beninati's friend, who had planned to come to the festival with him, had died in a motorcycle accident six weeks earlier.
The Burning Man Festival began on Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1986 with the burning of an 8-foot wooden man before an audience of 20 people. The festival now lasts for eight days ending on Labor Day each year and was attended by nearly 50,000 people in 2008.
Beninati was the general manager of a real estate rehabilitation company at the time of the 2005 festival and had previously attended the event in 2002 and 2003, according to his lawsuit.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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