Athletic reforms part of wrongful death settlement

On behalf of Aiken and Aiken P.C. Personal Injury Attorneys posted in Wrongful Death, on Monday, January 11, 2016

College athletic programs in Massachusetts might want to review their training programs after a recent California case involving the death of a student athlete. Along with a hefty monetary settlement, the University of California, Berkeley, agreed to ban coaches from using extreme workouts as punishments and to increase their coaches’ awareness of medical conditions among their athletes. The 21-year-old football player died during the off-season after a conditioning workout that required him and his teammates to run up and down a steep asphalt hill 10 times. The team had never done the drill before, and the young man possessed the sickle cell trait. According to medical experts, this blood abnormality exposes a person to fatal risks during heavy exertion. The man collapsed on the 10th lap, and his family sued the university for wrongful death. After months of litigation, Cal officials announced a $4.75 million settlement and reforms to its athletic program that included better reviews of workout plans and education about sickle cell disease. During the legal process, university attorneys acknowledged that the pre-med student and defensive lineman was not responsible for his death. Instead, athletic staff members showed negligence in their decisions during the practice, and the university accepted liability for the death. Any family that loses a loved one due to the negligence of an individual or organization could investigate the potential of recovering damages with a wrongful death lawsuit. Damages typically include compensation for funeral expenses and lost household income. Sometimes punitive damages are also imposed by a court. An attorney could review a fatal accident and make a determination as to whether negligence of another party was the cause.Source: ESPN, “Ted Agu’s family gets $4.75M from Cal in wrongful-death settlement“, April 14, 2016