An Ohio state appeals court has affirmed a trial court’s ruling, siding with Bowling Green State University in a case in which the school was sued for negligence by the estate of a student athlete, who died minutes after leaving a football practice with cramps.
In so ruling, the court found that the testimony of one of the physicians “constituted competent credible evidence of a lack of proximate cause of injury and death due to negligence of the university’s personnel.”
On Sept. 15, 2004, Aaron M. Richardson left football practice after he began to experience cramping in his legs. Once in the locker room, Student Assistant Coach Gerald Berry, who was tending to Richardson, sent another assistant to get a trainer. At that point, the cramps moved up to Richardson’s abdomen. “Barry admitted that he thought about calling 911 at that moment but that he did not feel he had the authority to do so,” noted the court. The trainer arrived, and finding Richardson’s pulse to be very weak, decided to call 911. As she was placing the call from an adjacent room, one of the other assistants called for help because Richardson had stopped breathing and had no pulse.
Davidson grabbed the Automatic Electronic Defibrillator (AED). “In the next few minutes they attempted to revive Aaron,” wrote the court. “AED records indicate that the device was activated at 3:44 p.m. The ambulance arrived at 3:47 p.m., left with Aaron at 3:48 p.m., and arrived at the hospital at 4:05 p.m. Aaron never regained consciousness and he was pronounced dead at 5:35 p.m.”
A lawsuit was filed by the Richardson family. After the trial court ruled for the university, the plaintiffs appealed, claiming the trial judge erred:
• “by ruling that Bowling Green State University did not breach the standard of care owing to the decedent, Aaron Richardson, when football Coach Beckman ordered Aaron Richardson “off the field” without any appropriate evaluation being performed.”
• “in ruling that it was not a breach of the standard of care for Gerald Barry, a student studying athletic training, to evaluate and attempt to treat Aaron Richardson without any supervision of a certified athletic trainer.”
• by not finding that there had been “a violation of the standard of care” when “emergency medical services were not summoned when Aaron Richardson developed full-body cramping and a change in mental status.”
• when it concluded “that the weight of the evidence did not support that Aaron Richardson would probably have survived if 911 was called at 3:15 when Barry observed Aaron Richardson in a full-body cramp.”
• when it did not render “a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on the issue of Bowling Green State University’s liability for harm caused and (the school’s) failure to provide Aaron Richardson with the standard of care he was entitled to.”
• when it did not consider “whether Aaron Richardson lost a chance of survival by the delay in treatment.”
The appeals court singled out “the fourth assignment of error, because it, by itself, could have been determinative of the outcome of the trial and could determine the merits of this appeal.”
Pivotal case law on this point was C.E. Morris Co. v. Foley Const. Co. (1978), 54 Ohio St. 2d 279, 376 N.E.2d 578. The syllabus in that case reads: “Judgments supported by some competent, credible evidence going to all the essential elements of the case will not be reversed by a reviewing court as being against the manifest weight of the evidence.”
The competent evidence in the instant case was administered by a Dr. Stephen Veale Cantrill. He reviewed a wide range of material before he testified, including Aaron Richardson’s hospital chart, Aaron’s past medical records, the autopsy report, the emergency run records and “several different depositions,” according to the appeals court. He ultimately concluded that “starting resuscitation on Aaron earlier would not have saved his life.
“Our resolution of the fourth assignment of error renders the other five assignments of error moot. As a result, we affirm the judgment of the Ohio Court of Claims.”
Alice Ashburn, Individually and as Executrix of the Estate of Aaron M. Richardson v. Bowling Green State University; Ct.App.Ohio, 10th App.Dist.; No. 10AP-716, 2011 Ohio 1495; 2011 Ohio App. LEXIS 1297; 3/29/11
Attorneys of Record: (for appellant) Murray & Murray Co., L.P.A., and Michael T. Murray. (for appellee)Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Karl W. Schedler.
