Appeals Court Expands Contact Sports Exception to Leagues, Organizers

An Illinois state appeals court has broadly construed the contact sports exception to include organizers in a case where the parents of a player who was injured in a hockey game sued the players who caused the injury and the organizers of the league.   While affirming the dismissal of that portion of the complaint, the appeals court reversed the trial court and its decision to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim that the individual defendants exhibited “willful and wanton conduct,” finding