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Originally Posted by just another ref
This is true and easy enough to understand, but having never seen the specific wording of a law which would make an official liable under any circumstance, it is difficult to say what would or would not be included.
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What you have to remember is that making an official liable is normally not a statutory law. Any statutory law may limit your liability but normally does not explain what liability is. Some states may define negligence but it would be in general terms.
Most lawsuits that are filed against officials are related to common law negligence (or gross negligence) normally there are several elements to the tort action
"According to some commentators, the sports official fulfills his or her duty to participants and spectators by acting reasonably; in the event the official does not act reasonably in supervising competition, for example, he or she should be held tortiously liable. In other words,referees and game officials need only use reasonable care to see that the rules of competition are complied with. Reasonable care might consist of advising the contestants about illegal holds, punches, and similar tactics.
Reasonable care will require referees to be diligent in detecting infractions of the rules and in sanctioning violators. . . . Every situation is different, and in evaluating a referee's conduct the law will judge it against that of a reasonable and prudent person with similar training and experience" 11 U. Miami Ent. & Sports L. Rev. 375
The original post asked about lawsuits that we knew of .. There was:
Carabba v. Anacortes Sch. Dist. No. 103 435 P.2d 936 (Wash. 1967).
Karas v. Strevell, 227 Ill. 2d 440 (Supreme Court of Illinois Feb 2008)
Unsucessful but made its way through the courts to vindicate.
LeNoble v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 663 So. 2d 1351 (included game officials)
Nunez v. Isidore Newman High School, 306 So. 2d 457 (suit over dangerous floor- did not look like directed at officials but officials had to testify and were in middle of it)
Smith v. National Football League, No. 74-418 Civ. T-K (US D. Fla.)
Rearick v. Refkovsky, 1995 Conn. Super. LEXIS 3125 Referee ejected coach and was later sued for defamation because referee stated he smelled alcohol on coach's breath.
Could not find the case but I know of a lawsuit in Texas I believe going on right now for failure to keep sidelines clear...
I did not do extensive research but did find these few quickly...any of these the referees won but only after long legal battle
Lawsuits are real- What we need to do is take reasonable steps to prvent as many possible problems. We should never ignore safety rules. Never turn a blind eye to somone being stupid....