Court dismisses suit in death of boxer

The Utah Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the sister of a journeyman boxer who suffered heart failure in the first round of a 2003 boxing match in Cedar City.

Celeste Moss claimed officials with the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission, which regulates the sport of boxing in the state, should never have let her brother, Bradley Rone, enter the ring for a six-round heavyweight match on July 18, 2003.

At the time, Rone had high blood pressure, was overweight and had lost 26 consecutive fights, including five by knockout.

Moss argued that boxing officials had no business allowing her brother in the ring. Rone didn't even last one round before the 259-pound boxer collapsed from heart failure.

Rone was desperate for the prize money so he could buy a plane ticket to Ohio to attend his mother's funeral. In a tragic twist of fate, Rone's body was flown home in the cargo section of the plane and was buried along side his mother in a double funeral in Ohio.

Moss sued the state for wrongful death, claiming the athletic commission had violated several of its own rules in allowing her brother to fight. A district court judge, however, dismissed the suit, finding that the commission had governmental immunity.

In a ruling issued Friday, the Utah Supreme Court concluded that the sport of boxing is inherently dangerous and because of that, the state has an interest in regulating it. Because federal law prohibits private associations from regulating boxing, the state must do it, and in order to do so it must be held immune from liability under the Governmental Immunity Act.

"Like the regulation of financial institutions and building code standards, the regulation of professional boxing is uniquely governmental in nature. Although a private boxing association could theoretically regulate professional boxing in Utah, such regulation would differ qualitatively from the regulation provided by the government," the ruling states. "Only the government can regulate the sport for the common good, rather than for the benefit of a select, financially interested sector of the boxing industry. Only the government may wield its police power to ensure that safety regulations are followed."

Under governmental immunity in Utah law, there are narrow exceptions in which a person must prove gross negligence or blatant disregard for safety. The high court found that Moss failed to show that.

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