Jockey Judy Casella, injured in a spill...

Jockey Judy Casella, injured in a spill at Los Alamitos Race Course five years ago, will not be allowed to sue for damages, Justice Thomas F. Crosby Jr. of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana has ruled.

Casella suffered a broken leg and fractured tail bone in the spill, which involved her mount and two others. Casella sued the other two riders, as well as the trainers and owners of the other horses.

But in a unaminous decision written by Crosby, a three-member panel overruled a lower court order that granted Casella a trial. “Professional riders must realize that accidents are always possible,” Crosby wrote.

Michael C. Booser, the attorney for one of the horse owners involved in the case, said that “in the long run, (the decision) will be something that saves professional sports . . . from an onslaught of litigation.”