Our assignor has been great all season and works very hard for our unit and is generally easily reachable - I'm confident if we had trouble reaching him there was a legit reason. Of course it would have been preferable to get a ruling from him, but in the moment I was more concerned with the lack of a game administrator from the host school at a postseason game.

Gravitas ...
 

Probably not going to happen, but if anybody gets hurt, anybody can sue anybody for any reason at any time. Billable hours will be involved.

https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.O...=0&w=300&h=300

I would probably let them play, but I would feel a lot better if someone with more gravitas than me approved.

Which CIF Section was this?

My area doesn't start playoffs until tomorrow.

Southern

Everybody asks what do the athletic directors or governing officials say.... but
I’m going to ask what would your lawyer say?

Not enforcing a safety rule is never a good idea. Exposes the officiating crew to liability if an injury occurs when ignoring a safety rule. .. the coaches agreeing doesn’t help with liabilities.. in fact based on what I have seen from the California Supreme Court .......others generally do have a duty not to increase the risk of harm beyond what is inherent in the sport. (Kahn v. East Side Union High School )

The California Supreme Court has also noted, in dicta, that those responsible for maintaining athletic facilities have a similar duty not to increase the inherent risks. With intercollegiate sports competition, the host college or university owes a duty to home and visiting participants alike not to increase the risks inherent in the sport. I suspect they’d apply it to high school sports....

I wonder if padding wasn’t available or could have been.. poly high carb vinyl pad ( whatever that is) may not have been available but something else that was reasonable....even then that may not absolve liability

For most girls games I wouldn’t worry, but above the rim play would concern me for boys...

Some food for thought from a different perspective.....

Negligence
 

Swimmer breaks neck, loses case against High School and Coach - Sports Injury Law

I wonder if officials (not coaches, or school districts) have ever been sued for negligence?

http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu...text=sportslaw

Geez.. everyone wants to be a hardcase-- the discussion on this board was about applying common sense. Meeting with the coaches would be gathering pertinent information to use in the judgement call as to allow the game to continue or not. Pretty much the only thing that is relevant to the "safety" aspect is if any player on the court could elevate to a level that put his head in proximity to the bottom of the backboard. Pretty sure the coaches are the ones who can tell you that, and I know we are supposed to demonize and belittle coaches on this board, but in this case they are the source of the information you need to make a wise ("wise" meaning applying judgement to facts that you have) decision.

And, BTW this "playoff game" sounds like such a slipshod operation that if you, as ref, walked off and refused to call it they probably would have grabbed the mom taking tickets and given her a whistle and said "game on"

I'm sorry, I must have missed the part of the rule that talked about it only applying to certain players.

I'm not the only one looking to cover his ass, either. It's not about being a "hardcase" it's about doing the right thing in terms of rules and safety.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I am not talking about the rule here. The rules is clear, and well understood. I am talking about applying judgement to the situation here. While the "rule" applies equally to all players, the actual risk of injury would apply only to players who could jump high enough to get their head near the backboard.

And I am the first to waive off a game where there exists a legitimate dangerous condition. In this case it does not sound like there is anything like a legitimate risk to the players wellbeing.

If I were they only one with the same concerns I'd say "ok".

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

The answer is yes. Whether they win or not is a different story..Ask the football officials in Texas what it is like to face a 10 million dollar lawsuit. They eventually won but still...

Whether the standard in a state is negligence or gross negligence.. makes a difference. i think most states would follow the gross negligence standard. I posted the generalities of California becuase the game was played there .( and that’s where I’m licnsed) .. and of course this post does not create any attorney client relationship and are id applicable in all states

If this was a game where I thought a head could actually hit that board, I'd hesitate.

Small school game or girls game? Different to me.

Girl shoots the ball, but it hits the bottom of the backboard and comes back down and breaks the girl's nose.

Parents sue on the grounds that if the required padding were there the ball wouldn't have come back so fast.

Ridiculous? Probably. Possible? Yeah. And I'd want to make sure my name wasn't attached to the lawsuit.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Oh my, BryanV21 you have left me speechless. You win. I concede. Oy Vey.

Yeah. Why strive for an answer when we can all simply agree with your common sense?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk