A magistrate judge from the Eastern District of Texas has dismissed the claim of a Galveston, Texas couple has sued the Santa Fe Independent School District and several school officials in the Southern District of Texas, alleging that they violated the civil rights of their son, leading to the debilitating concussion he suffered on the playing field.
Donna and Troy Yarbrough, who filed suit on behalf of their minor son, were seeking in excess of $5 million in damages.
“This is a critically important civil rights case concerning traumatic physical and mental injuries sustained by a male high school student,” according to the complaint. “Each year numerous children are injured across the country participating in sporting events. A number of injuries result due to a systemic culture of winning at all costs.”
The Yarbroughs, through Houston attorney Alfred Southerland, suggest that “children” like their son are ushered into arenas where they “battle for championships to the amusement of spectators” and to win championships.
The flaw, they allege, is that “in order to win championships, child athletes are subjected to training regimens that disregard their health, safety, and well-being. Drills are conducted in practice that are dangerous and are known to cause long term serious injuries while under the supervision of the coaches.”
The incident leading to the concussion occurred on Sept. 21, 2016, when the minor was at football practice. Participating in a scrimmage, he collided, helmet-to-helmet, with a much larger player.
“The coaches were yelling at (the students) to line up again, and again, and again, and to hit harder, harder, harder,” according to the lawsuit. “Indeed, the coaches encouraged, if not demanded, an aggressive and repetitive full-on head-to-head and upper body contact.
“The coaches ran the same drill over and over resulting in continued, repetitive head-to-head and upper body contact. The coaches never stopped or intervened in the constant helmet to helmet contact.”
Shortly thereafter, the minor began experiencing severe headaches, and two days later was diagnosed with a concussion.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs took the novel approach of alleging that the “defendants failed to enact … proper and adequate policies … relating to the prevention of head injuries resulting from athletic activities. This deliberate indifference to the health, safety and welfare of student athletes in failing to educate said student athletes on the causes, symptoms, and dangers of traumatic head injuries was the common policy and custom of the defendants.”
The Court’s Ruling
It was significant that the couple did not claim the coaches knowingly forced their son into danger involving a known victim, according to Magistrate Judge Andrew M. Edison. Instead, their suit focused on “the overall danger of the sport and the coaches continuously urging players to meet aggression with aggression.
“Notably, Yarbrough does not complain that the coaches knowingly forced him to continue contact drills after he suffered a concussion,” the magistrate wrote.
“The present lawsuit is, in essence, a condemnation of the football culture which pervades much of society in this part of the country,” Edison wrote. “Boiled down, Yarbrough contends that the game of football, with its constant physical contact, aggression and violence, is an inherently dangerous sport. Allowing high school football players to repeatedly hit each other, Yarbrough maintains, puts these youngsters in harm’s way.”
