A federal judge from the Middle District of Pennsylvania has again dismissed the claim of a cheerleader, who suffered multiple concussions, and subsequently sued her cheerleading coach for negligence.
Last summer, the judge dismissed the claim of plaintiff Ryleigh Benjamin (R.B.), finding that because her coach had little concussion awareness that she could not have foreseen the injuries. However, the judge left the door open for the plaintiff to file an amended suit.
After R.B. filed an amended complaint, the defendant moved to dismiss, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The judge granted the motion to dismiss, but on different grounds, finding the defendant was entitled to governmental immunity in light of a recent Third Circuit decision.
By way of background, plaintiff R.B., in September 2014, was a member of a non-competitive cheerleading squad sponsored by Danville Area High School. During that membership, R.B. was supervised and coached by the individual defendant Jennifer Enterline, who had been appointed as a cheerleading coach by the school board in March 2014. Prior to this appointment beginning in the fall of 2014, Enterline had never served as a cheerleading coach.
While under the tutelage of Enterline, R.B. suffered the three injuries to her head, which form the basis of this suit. On Sept. 10, 2014, R.B. was injured twice during cheerleading practice. The first injury occurred when R.B. threw another cheerleader into the air and the other cheerleader’s feet struck her in her sternum. The impact caused R.B. to fall to the ground and hit the back of her head on the mat. She suffered immediate symptoms of dizziness, fogginess, headache pain, and being tired. Enterline failed to notify R.B.’s parents or have her assessed by a trainer, and affirmatively returned R.B. to practice.
R.B. then suffered a second head injury on Sept. 10, 2014. Specifically, when another cheerleader sat on top of R.B.’s head during stunting practice, both she and R.B. fell to the ground. R.B.’s symptoms of dizziness, fogginess, headache pain, and being tired stemming from her previous injury increased. R.B. alleged, however, that Enterline again failed to notify R.B.’s parents or have her assessed by a trainer.
The following day, on Sept. 11, 2014, R.B. suffered her third and final injury under the supervision of Enterline when another cheerleader kicked her on the left side of the jaw. The impact of this kick caused R.B.’s head to move in a whiplash-like manner and forced her to lose consciousness. During both this and her injuries of the prior day, R.B. alleges that she suffered “concussion-like symptoms” in open view of Enterline. The next day, Sept. 12, 2014, R.B. had difficulty comprehending information and felt “as if she was going to fall over.” Her mother took her to the hospital for evaluation, and she was diagnosed with numerous serious and permanent bodily injuries stemming from her repeated injuries on Sept. 10-11, 2014.
In the amended complaint, R.B. reframed her negligence claim as one sounding in willful misconduct “in an effort to skirt the governmental immunity imposed by Pennsylvania’s Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act,” wrote the court. “This strategy has worked – at least for the purposes of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion and its attendant plausibility standard.
“School districts are immune from liability under Pennsylvania’s governmental immunity law. So to is Enterline if she is, in fact, an employee of the school district as plead in the amended complaint.” However, that immunity does not extend to “acts or conduct which constitutes a crime, actual fraud, actual malice or willful misconduct,” according to the court.
“Here, there are no allegations that Enterline was acting in a manner that evinces an intent for R.B. to suffer a concussion. Enterline’s actions sound in negligence, but simply do not rise to the level of intentional conduct necessary to lose immunity under the Act at issue.”
R.B., a minor, by her parent and natural guardian Kyle Hickey, in her own right v. Jennifer Enterline; M.D. Pa.; No. 4:16-CV-1583, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8633; 1/19/18
Attorneys of Record: (for plaintiff) Jeffrey P. Fritz, LEAD ATTORNEY, Soloff Zervanos, PC, Philadelphia, PA. (for defendant) Charles E. Haddick, Jr., LEAD ATTORNEY, Christine L. Line, Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C., Camp Hill, PA.
