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Old Wed May 16, 2007, 09:23pm
Texas Aggie Texas Aggie is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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Quote:
Written reports are considered legal documents. So they can and have been used for court cases.
Well, I wouldn't call them legal documents like I would, say, contracts or court documents, but reports ARE discoverable. The absolute best thing to do if you are worried about information coming out is to talk to a lawyer and let him write everything down. The other side for sure can't get to that based on the attorney client (and likely work product) privileges.

I highly doubt you'll get sued. Its likely they won't be able to find out who you are by the time the attorney gets around to filing this thing, if that happens at all. Even if they do know who you are, if you are uninsured, they probably won't mess with it. Your share of the negligence as it relates to the total event is so small, it wouldn't amount to much -- and that assumes you were even negligent at all, which I doubt.

Not to get into a legal discussion, especially since state law varies, but negligence, which is what you'd get sued based on, requires 4 elements: duty, breach of the duty, cause, and harm. Sometimes the last 2 elements are merged together (as they are in Texas). All elements must be proved or the case falls. I personally don't believe an official has a duty to prevent an unprovoked violent attack by one player on another, especially given that there was no forewarning or previous similar behavior. Without a duty, there's no negligence and no case.

Guys, the areas where we can get ourselves in big trouble are: playing on unplayable fields, courts, or conditions, AND attempting or preventing needed medical attention. Stay away from screwing around in those areas, and you'll probably stay lawsuit free.