New Article by Prof. Mitten on Coach Liability for Player Injuries

The recent news of two lawsuits brought by the families of high school football players who died after strenuous summer workouts raises difficult questions regarding the legal and ethical obligations of coaches to protect their players from harm.  Coincidentally, Matt Mitten has a new paper on SSRN that explores just such questions.  Among other things, Matt thoroughly surveys the leading tort cases from across the country.  He highlights significant state-to-state variations in the law and identifies what may be an emerging (and troubling) trend among courts toward a special liability standard for coaches that is less protective of athletes than ordinary negligence.  Here is the abstract to Matt’s paper:

Regardless of the level of athletic competition, a coach is not an insurer of an athlete’s safety and is not necessarily liable for injuries that occur while coaching a sport. Although coaches generally are not liable for athlete injuries that are ‘‘part of the game,’’ there is potential legal liability if a coach’s action or inaction increases the inherent risks of injury in a sport. To recover damages for an injury, an athlete is required to prove tortious (i.e., wrongful) action or inaction by a coach caused his injury. This chapter provides an overview of the developing law regarding the nature and scope of a coach’s duty to protect the health and safety of athletes participating in youth and high school sports (who generally are minors entrusted to coaches’ custodial care) or college sports (who generally are adults that do not have a custodial relationship with their coaches) and illustrates a coach’s ethical obligation to do so. It also notes that state statutes and judicial decisions may immunize coaches at public educational institutions from liability for negligence that causes injury to athletes, and that pre-injury releases and waivers may protect both private and public school coaches from liability for their negligence.

The paper will be published as a chapter in Ethics and Coaching (Robert L. Simon ed., Westview 2012).

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GOP Senate race looks tighter in new Law School Poll results

The complex and eye-catching four-candidate race for the Republican nomination for Wisconsin’s open U.S. Senate seat is getting tighter as the Aug. 14 primary draws near, according to results released Wednesday by the Marquette Law School Poll.

The extensive polling project, which has been tracking trends in the race for months, found that former Gov. Tommy Thompson continues to lead among likely voters, but his margins have narrowed and the race as a whole is closer than at previous times. In the new results, Thompson drew support from 28% of likely voters, compared to 20% for businessman Eric Hovde, 18% for former Rep. Mark Neumann, and 13% for Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald. A noteable 21% of likely voters say they are undecided.

Looking to November’s presidential voting, President Barack Obama leads former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Rommney, 50% to 45%. A month ago, the Law School poll put Obama up 51% to 43%. In general, the presidential race has been stable in Wisconsin since May, poll director Charles Franklin said.

Full results of the poll can be found at law.marquette.edu/poll/.

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We Are All Sikhs

The day after the dreadful attacks of September 11, 2001, the French newspaper Le Monde published an editorial under the headline “Nous Sommes Tous Américains” (“We Are All Americans”).  The headline was meant to convey not only that the French people stood behind Americans in our desperate hour, but also that they shared our vulnerability as well as our responsibility in an increasingly dangerous world.  The editorial warned that modern technology enables suicidal warriors of all ideological stripes to do more damage than ever before, and the writer emphasized that all leaders need to act to discourage ordinary people from joining the murderous aims of warmongers like those who wreaked havoc on September 11th.

On Sunday, a smaller — but no less terrible — act of carnage occurred in Oak Creek, when a lone gunman killed six people and wounded three others before he was shot and killed by a police officer.  Deaths by violence are always terrible, but this was also an attack against an entire religious community that resides among us.

I first began to learn about Sikhism a few years ago when one of my students, herself a Sikh, kindly gave me a book about her religion.  The religion was founded in the 15th century and has over 20 million followers throughout the world.  Sikhs believe in one God, Whom they believe is the same Supreme Being worshipped by followers of other religions.  To quote from the website www.Sikhs.org, “Sikhism preaches that people of different races, religions, or sex are all equal in the eyes of God.  It teaches the full equality of men and women.”  The Sikh religion also emphasizes tolerance, honesty, community service, and sharing with those in need.

It is beyond ironic that members of a group devoted to peace, equality and tolerance were violently slaughtered in what the FBI is investigating as an act of domestic terrorism.

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