Erika Grotheer, a German citizen who spoke no English, joined a hot air balloon tour over Temecula wine country. The flight ended badly when the basket crash-landed into a fence, breaking her leg. She sued the tour company (Escape Adventures), the pilot (Peter Gallagher), and the vineyard (Wilson Creek).
The defendants pushed for summary judgment on two grounds: that Grotheer couldn't prove negligence, and that she had signed a liability waiver before boarding anyway. The trial court sided with the defendants, finding that the risks of a balloon ride were inherent — meaning Escape and Gallagher had no duty of care toward her in the first place under the primary assumption of risk doctrine.
Grotheer appealed, arguing that Escape should be held to a higher standard as a "common carrier" — the same legal category as airlines and buses. The appeals court upheld the judgment against her, but reached that conclusion through slightly different reasoning: a balloon tour company isn't a common carrier and doesn't carry the elevated duty that comes with that status; the pilot's handling of the descent was protected by primary assumption of risk; and while Escape did have a duty to give passengers safe landing instructions, the court found that whatever failure occurred on that front didn't actually cause Grotheer's injury.