While he was attending a fitness class at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Matthew Capuano's trainer directed him to "max out" on the horizontal leg press machine.
Unable to keep the weight up, Matthew suffered a serious back injury and later filed a personal-injury suit against the school.
Because he had "assumed the risk" of injury by using the machine, the New York Supreme Court, granted RIT's dismissal request.
Since it wasn't clear Matt knew he risked harm, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, sent the case back so that a jury could determine whether the trainer was responsible for what transpired and if the injury could have been prevented. (Apparently, the woman Matt was working with had no "formal" weight-training background and wasn't in the room when the accident occurred.)
Now that was heavy.
To view a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Capuano v. Rochester Inst. of Tech.