A former high school wrestler, who claims he suffered “three concurrent concussions in one practice,” has indicated he will sue a New Jersey school district for negligence.
In a complaint lodged in state court on Jan. 22, plaintiff Joshua Kent, a student at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale (NJ), named the Pascack Valley Regional High School District as a defendant.
Kent stated in a resume online that “in January of 2017, I experienced three concurrent concussions in one practice. I did not completely return to school until that May and have not been cleared for school athletics … . As a result, I have not been wrestling since the middle of 10th grade.”
Kent alleges that during a wrestling practice he was slammed against the mat on three separate occasions. Each time he reported that he was dizzy to his coaches and each time his coaches, allegedly, told him to return to practice without properly evaluating the injury. Kent claims the coaches were negligent because they did not follow concussion protocol.
Kent further claims that he now suffers from post-concussion syndrome, including prolonged headaches and dizziness, visual-vestibular integration dysfunction, and emotional distress.
Other named defendants in the case are Pascack Hills High School, which is part of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District, and the school’s athletic director, Philip Paspalas, who the plaintiff contends should have ensured that the wrestling coaches “provided for the health, safety, and well-being of the student-athlete.”
Kent reportedly is seeking to recover the costs he has allegedly incurred “and will incur in the future with substantial medical expenses.”
