Paid vs. Volunteer

[greymule]

I'm surprised that leagues that use volunteer umpires, as well as the volunteers themselves, don't seem to be concerned about legal liability in the inevitable event of injury.

I can imagine the questioning in court, after some guy's knee (or brain) is in pieces after whatever accident: "How much training did you have as an umpire? What tests have you taken and how often did you take them? Did you attend any meetings at which you discussed safety standards? Are you aware of the safety standards for equipment? Why did you not have the illegal bat removed from the game? Were you aware that the bat in question was illegal? What makes a bat illegal? Before the collision in question, had you ever warned any other players about crashing into the catcher? Where in the rule book does it say that a player must slide?"

Leagues might have players sign waivers, but those get you only so far. Here in New Jersey, one of our guys is being sued (along with a dozen other legal entities) because a runner slipped and fell halfway home and messed up his knee. No collision, no wet field, no equipment in the way. Nothing like that. The runner claimed that, halfway home, he remembered that the plate had an edge that was sticking up and, afraid of trying to negotiate a dangerous home plate on a close play, slipped and destroyed his knee when he tried to stop. Whether he has a case or not, do you want to be a volunteer ump in that situation?