By Austin Spears
Serena Hodson, a former student-athlete at San Diego State University, is suing Cal State University’s Board of Trustees, claiming that she suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries and failed to receive correct medical treatment while playing for the university’s women’s volleyball team.
Hodson claims that during her three years as a member of the SDSU women’s volleyball team, she suffered a minimum of three concussions and was dealt countless blows to the head on top of that. Hodson suffered her first concussion in October 2019, keeping her out of all volleyball-related activities for six weeks. Hodson had three appointments with SDSU trainers and health care providers and completed 41 daily symptom evaluation sheets before being cleared to return to volleyball activities on December 11, 2019. The average recovery time for 80% of concussions is 7 to 14 days, with an average length of recovery of 10 days. Her six weeks of recovery time for her first concussion suggests she had intense concussion symptoms.
Hodson would suffer a second concussion in the following October that kept her out of volleyball activities for two weeks and resulted in a diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome from SDSU Health care providers. Post-concussion syndrome is persistent concussion symptoms that can consist of headaches, dizziness, and memory issues.
Hodson suffered her third concussion eight months later, in June 2021; she would return to SDSU in the fall for the upcoming school year and was cleared to return on August 18th for that year. According to the lawsuit, zero daily evaluation sheets were filled out by the SDSU staff in the weeks leading up to her clearance, a stark contrast to the 41 filled out following her first concussion.
Hodson alleges that following her clearance from her third concussion, she suffered multiple hits to the head in various games and practices. She specifically claims that over the course of a two-day tournament, she reported concussion symptoms to her coaches. Despite reporting these symptoms and her past medical history, Hodson was cleared to return to the match, where she was hit three more times in the head without being assessed or removed.
Following these events, Hodson withdrew from San Diego State and filed this suit. Her complaint claims she suffered personal and financial losses from the treatments of her concussions and lost out on future earning potential.
San Diego State has denied these allegations in a statement, saying, “The well-being, health and safety of our students is of utmost importance… We do not comment on active litigation, however, we can confirm that the CSU is defending against the allegations in the lawsuit.”
The Cal State system has also argued multiple different defenses in court, saying that Hodson signed a liability waiver that assumed the risk for injuries. The CSU did not go into further detail on how the waiver impacts the alleged lack of proper medical care from SDSU staff. CSU is also planning to argue Hodson’s claims are “diminished by the amount or percentage that said conduct, misconduct, or negligence caused or contributed to the alleged damages, should they be proven.”
The Daily Aztec reached out to Hodson’s Los Angeles-based lawyer, Andrew Biren, who specializes in personal injury cases. Biren said, “The school should have known better. The school should have done better. She’s a kid… she is, last I checked, not a doctor,” Biren said. “To blame her would be ridiculous, and to say that she was cleared as some sort of positive when that is the root of the whole problem is that she was cleared when she shouldn’t have been.”
Hodson received multiple SDSU and Mountain West scholar-athlete awards during her time with the Aztecs. She appeared in 14 matches with 4 starts over her career and led the Aztecs with an average of 0.76 blocks in 21 sets played in 2021. San Diego State Women’s volleyball has struggled for the past decade, failing to make the playoffs since 2012. Current coach Brent Hilliard replaced former coach Deitre Collins-Parker in 2020 after Collins-Parker was in charge of the Aztecs volleyball program for the previous decade.
In 2019, the NCAA faced a suit from a former football and men’s soccer student-athlete. The suit claimed the NCAA failed to adopt appropriate rules regarding concussions and failed to manage the risk of concussions. The NCAA denied liability but eventually reached a settlement that allowed many former student-athletes to receive compensation.
The battle between Hodson and the Cal State Board of Trustees rages on, and a trial date has been set for May 2025.
