In a decision that may shock plaintiffs’ lawyers around the country, the Wyoming Senate last week approved the first reading of a bill, which would provide significant legal protections to school districts and their staff against negligence lawsuits brought by those who have suffered concussions on the playing field.
Senate File 98, which is sponsored by Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, re-affirms the assumption of risk doctrine, or the legal concept that participants are aware that they may suffer a concussion when they engage in school-sanctioned sports.
The bill would place a shield around a governmental entity, or public employee acting on the entity’s behalf to organize and administer school athletics. If signed into law, the bill would provide that “no governmental entity, public employee acting w/in the scope of duties on behalf of a governmental entity or private organization or person authorized to organize & administer school athletics shall be liable for or the inadequacy of concussion-related protocols.”
Charles F. Gfeller of Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP suggested to Sports Litigation Alert that the bill may have gone too far.
“This is a pretty sweeping bill in that it does not differentiate between the inherent risk of an initial concussion and the subsequent, possibly known or enhanced risk, of a second head injury,” he said. “While I completely agree that the risk of an initial concussion is an inherent risk of many activities, this bill seeks to preserve, and possibly expand, the doctrine of sovereign immunity to injuries that many would argue are beyond the bounds of inherent risk.”
Meanwhile, plaintiffs’ lawyer Eugene Egdorf of the Lanier Law Firm is certain that it has gone too far.
“This proposed Wyoming legislation is very troubling,” said Egdorf. “Our elected officials are charged with protecting citizens, particularly young people. Instead, Wyoming legislators want to discard their responsibilities. Worse, in doing so they are giving schools and coaches a free pass to ignore protection of their players. It’s absurd.”
One of Senator Landen’s fellow politicians also harbored reservations.
Senate President Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, told the local media that “I don’t know how you can say concussions and head injuries are an inherent risk. I’m concerned about making a blanket statement that there’s nothing we can do.”
The paper went on to paraphrase Nicholas as saying that “proper safety equipment can substantially reduce the risk of such injuries.”
Robert J. Zayas, Executive Director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, disagreed, noting that Nicholas is stretching things to say that technology can resolve that risk.
“There is no statistical significance data to support the claim that safety equipment can substantially reduce the risk of injury,” Zayas told Sports Litigation Alert. “The most expensive football helmet will not eliminate the risk of a concussion. It will however reduce the potential for skull fracture, which is the reason why helmets were originally implemented in the sport of football. The ‘fit’ of the football helmet is one of the most important aspects pertaining to the helmet and concussions.”
Senate File 98 must pass two more Senate votes before it could move to the House of Representatives.
Landen is not new to the debate. In 2012, he was quoted in a FoxSports.com report, which suggested that “lawmakers,” like Landen, were “balking at mandatory guidelines, citing concerns about civil liberty.” Landen said: “We were told parents already know the risk their children are in when they play football. They didn’t want the state coming in and issuing mandates on this or that.”
To read the full bill, visit http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2015/Introduced/SF0098.pdf
