SANTA ROSA, Calif. (CN) — Spartan Race won a minor victory in court Wednesday in a case brought by a race participant who claims the company caused 750 racers to experience bacterial skin infections after it used contaminated water in one of its popular Tough Mudder events.
Judge Kenneth G. English dismissed several of the plaintiff’s claims centered on his accusations that the company acted intentionally or knew the water was contaminated before the race began.
The judge struck claims for punitive damages, saying the plaintiff failed to prove Spartan Race intentionally used contaminated water in its obstacle course and its showers. The facts, the judge said, were only sufficient to establish the company knew it was using “non-potable water,” not contaminated water.
“Knowledge that the water was non-potable — and thus carried only a risk of contamination — is entirely different than knowledge that the water was in fact contaminated,” the judge said in his tentative order, which he later adopted in full.
Tough Mudder is a mud run and endurance race series first launched in 2010. The event, which Spartan Race purchased in 2020, is essentially a 10-12 mile obstacle course where runners are asked to brave freezing water, run through dangling electrical wires and army crawl under barbed wire among other high-octane challenges.
The lawsuit, filed by race participant Evan Goldsmith in September 2024, seeks damages for a 2023 Tough Mudder race at the Sonoma Raceway, where almost 5,000 racers participated. Goldsmith’s suit is one of 25 filed by race participants who say they were injured by contaminated water.
After the event, hundreds of participants reported experiencing pustules, rash, lesions, fevers, vomiting, diarrhea and muscle aches after their race.
A subsequent investigation by the Sonoma County Department of Health Services found that one of the primary water sources used for the event contained Aeromonas SPP, a harmful bacterium that can cause potentially life-threatening flesh-eating diseases. The organization said that the rough terrain in the race’s mud pits and other obstacles likely caused skin abrasions that contributed to infections.
“These symptoms could be indicative of a minor illness called Swimmers’ Itch, but they can also indicate a Staph infection or other more serious bacterial infection such as Aeromonas,” the department said at the time.
Goldsmith sued Spartan Race for negligence, liability for “ultra hazardous activities,” intentionally inflicting emotional distress on racers and acting with reckless disregard for its racers.
“Defendants were aware that they were pumping their racetrack and showers with a contaminated water source, yet they did it anyway,” Goldsmith said in his complaint.
In December 2024, Spartan Race asked the judge to toss the Goldsmith’s claims of liability for ultra hazardous activities, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. The company also moved to strike certain portions of the suit supporting the claims for punitive damages.
In the courtroom, the proceedings revolved around Goldsmith’s attempts to prove Spartan Race acted intentionally.
“While I do not agree with the court on all the causes of action it sustained under the demurrer, I only want to talk about one of them today: Cause four, the intentional infliction of emotional distress,” said Elan Zekster of Oakwood Legal Group, who represented Goldsmith.
Zekster argued that the company’s knowledge of Goldsmith’s presence on the track was enough to prove intentional conduct.
“It wasn’t just, ‘Let’s let this contaminated water out, and maybe it hits someone, maybe it doesn’t,’” Zekster said. “They knew people would be there. They knew Evan would be there.”
In the end, the judge sided with the race company, although he did indicate the plaintiff may have some success in the future.
“You might get to intentional. Given what I’ve read in the briefing, I think you’ll get another shot at that. But I just don’t think we’re there yet,” the judge said.
The court granted Goldsmith leave to amend the lawsuit. Goldsmith will have 30 days to file an amended complaint.
Attorneys for both sides declined to comment, citing a need to speak with their respective clients before making any statements.
This case was filed in Sonoma Superior Court and heard at the Sonoma Civil and Family Courthouse in Santa Rosa, California.