Quote:
Originally Posted by justacoach
So now add counselor-at-law to your list of suspected avocations....and a quite picky one at that. You're suggesting a lawsuit be filed if someone gets fouled?
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Failing to monitor the situation for possible foul play, with said failure to pay attention to one's surroundings leading to bodily harm for another (a player) under the responsibility of the official can qualify as negligence, which is considered a tort. There are four elements to this tort, duty, breach, damages, and causation.
The duty of an official to exercise reasonable care includes paying attention to what is happening on the court while the official is on the court and has jurisdiction. This official failed to perform that duty.
Breach: The defendant breaches that duty through an act or culpable omission. Not paying attention to what is going on on the court most certainly qualifies as a culpable omission.
Damages: As a result of said act or omission, the plaintiff (a player) suffers an injury. If a player is injured because of an illegal play that happened while the official was not paying attention, that fulfills the damages criterion.
Causation: the injury to the plaintiff is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant's act or omission. If players see that an official is not paying attention, they may use that to illegally contact another player. If the illegal contact causes harm, then it is reasonable to imply causation from the official's inattention to the player's injury.
Thus, the criteria for the tort of negligence (and a lawsuit for negligence) against the official can be fulfilled, if a player is hurt because an official watches action on another court, without paying attention to his/ her own. In that scenario, a lawsuit would be reasonable, due to the official's inaction.
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