We all need to be reminded on what can happen on the sidelines.
First Story:
By Andrew Cohen
May 27, 2009
An inadvertent collision on a football sideline that led to a coach's brain injury is, five years later, still causing all sorts of headaches for a regional association of officials and the national organization that oversees them.
In 2004, working a football game between Fox Tech and Brackenridge high schools in San Antonio, Texas, Charles Harpole, one of a team of five officials, was running down a 6-foot-wide swath in front of the Brackenridge bench that is supposed to be kept clear for officials trailing a play. Running full speed upfield, Harpole collided with an assistant coach, Terry English, knocking both unconscious. Harpole recovered fully from the incident and has since returned to officiating, while English was left with impaired memory and was forced to retire from teaching and coaching.
Since the accident, the two have become friends, and English reportedly harbors no ill will toward Harpole. However, in 2006, the coach's insurance carrier, Midwest Employers Casualty (from whom English collected worker's compensation benefits), sued Harpole, the team of officials and the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO), claiming their negligence caused English's injuries. Midwest argued that the officials failed to enforce a rule that bars coaches from standing in the sideline area where English was injured and that English was not warned to stay out of the officials' box, among other claims. TASO was severed from the original suit, and the officiating crew won a summary judgment in trial court, but Midwest has appealed the verdict to the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio.
An amicus curiae brief filed in April by the National Association of Sports Officials pointed out that Harpole was doing exactly what an official is supposed to be doing. In the event that the trial court's verdict were overturned, NASO added, "nearly all of [NASO's] members do now or will in the future face the prospect of tort litigation concerning any sideline collision, or indeed any collision with a wayward coach, substitute player, athletic trainer, team physician, school employee, security officer, spectator or any other person who may be in close proximity to a sideline at an athletic event."
Second Story:
On June 9th, a Bexar County District Judge in Austin, TX issued a Judgment awarding over $400,000 in sanctions and fees against a Plaintiff for filing a frivolous lawsuit that named five Texas football officials.
The lawsuit stems from an injury suffered by a high school football coach, Terry English, during a football game at Brackenridge High School in 2004. During the course of a play, Coach English stepped onto the field and in front of an official who was running down the sideline. The men collided and Coach English suffered serious brain injuries.
Midwest Casualty, an out-of-state insurance company, who had to pay for Coach English’s health care costs, subsequently filed a lawsuit against the five high school football officials who were present at the game. Midwest sought to hold each of the officials jointly and severally liable for the injuries suffered by English.
The officials, all members of the Texas Association of Sports Officials (“TASO”), filed a counterclaim against Midwest and argued that Midwest’s lawsuit against them was frivolous because there was no basis in the law or facts to hold the officials liable for the coach’s injuries.
After several hearings, the trial court ruled that Midwest had no evidence to support its claim against the football officials, and the court dismissed Midwest’s claims on summary judgment. However, the official’s counterclaim remained and was tried in a bench trial on May 17, 2010.
Bexar County District Court Judge David A. Berchelmann, Jr., who conducted the bench trial, awarded $50,000.00 in sanctions to officials Charles Harpole, Jim Carroll, Alan Kwast, Albert Lopez and Brock Pittman each, totaling $250,000.00 in sanctions. The judge also awarded them $145,000 in attorneys’ fees and $8,193.99 in court costs.
“It is extraordinarily rare for a court to sanction someone for simply bringing a lawsuit, however, this lawsuit had so little merit that sanctions were justified,” said Austin attorney Gary Schumann, who represented the referees. “This ruling should send a very strong signal to the legal community against filing lawsuits against sports officials trying to hold the officials liable for on-field accidents” said Schumann, a partner in the law firm Savrick, Schumann, Johnson, McGarr, Kaminski & Shirley, L.L.P.
There is no indication yet whether Midwest will seek a new trial or appeal the judgment
Unfortunately, the obituary:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sanantonio/obituary.aspx?pid=150979458