Corona Waivers?

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by LRZ

Waivers are not to be signed or ignored lightly. I will not officiate any school that requires a waiver.

Why not?

I haven't been asked by individual schools (yet) to sign something.

[LRZ]

Waivers operate as an additional defense in a lawsuit: a plaintiff must prove causation by a preponderance of the evidence (the burden of proof), but with a waiver, a plaintiff would also have to overcome the assertion of assumption of the risk. Without an executed waiver, defendants have one less defense. Why would I voluntarily concede that benefit to schools?

As a lawyer, I am not interested in giving potential defendants a shield against liability.

More hypothetically (please note the conjecture here), schools might be motivated to "hide" behind waivers instead of fully complying with best practices to avoid the spread of the virus.

[SNIPERBBB]

If you were of the mind to sue someone because you think they gave you the Rona, you shouldn't be signing the waiver anyways. It's kinda a dirtbag move in my opinion to sign something with no intent to honor it. Especially knowing full well there's. Kthing anyone can do to stop you from getting the Rona, the flu or any other sickness. If you're worried about getting sick, stay home.

[LRZ]

It's not that the official does not intend to honor a waiver, but if facts came to light afterwards, showing that other parties did not live up to their end of the bargain (ie, maintain "best practices" to avoid the spread of the virus), then the official signed under a misconception and, arguably, the waiver is invalid.

"Especially knowing full well there's nothing anyone can do to stop you from getting the Rona...." This is patently false. There ARE things that can be done. And please don't conflate COVID-19 with "the flu or any other sickness." At least until we know more conclusively about it, and perhaps have a vaccine, we are dealing with something radically different. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the science.

As this conversation is beginning to infringe on a political argument, I'll say no more.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

If you were of the mind to sue someone because you think they gave you the Rona, you shouldn't be signing the waiver anyways. It's kinda a dirtbag move in my opinion to sign something with no intent to honor it. Especially knowing full well there's. Kthing anyone can do to stop you from getting the Rona, the flu or any other sickness. If you're worried about getting sick, stay home.

People might sign something, then figure out that they were not protected or they were neglagant in their application and then sue. Again, you do not know what might be an issue until you are faced with it directly. You can sign a waiver and find out there were not things promised or put into place to protect those. Like there is no plan in most area for testing or no way of knowing who has been tested. So it could be people could be infecting each other and nothign was put in place to protect everyone like the pro sports and now some college sports. Remember there are people that think this is all a hoax and might find out later how much of a hoax it is not.

Peace

[SNIPERBBB]

The thing is, even if all those promised things were done, you can still get it. That's the problem with these threats of lawsuits. Unless you force everyone to wear full hazmat suits, theres no way to prevent the Rona or the flu.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

The thing is, even if all those promised things were done, you can still get it. That's the problem with these threats of lawsuits. Unless you force everyone to wear full hazmat suits, theres no way to prevent the Rona or the flu.

There is no guarantee I won't die in my next car accident, but that doesn't mean my car's manufacturer should be let off the hook if they are installing faulty brake lines. Should Boeing be let off the hook b/c there is no guarantee a plane won't crash? There are things that fall in between wearing full hazmat suits and having absolutely no safety protocols at all. Why does it have to be one extreme or the other? If you find out a venue knowingly allowed CV-19 positive personnel to work the table and/or maintain the official's changing area, you don't think that's worthy invalidating a waiver?

If a venue does what is legally required or reasonably expected, then a lawsuit would be frivolous.

[SNIPERBBB]

You can't blame the manufacturer for things they can't control. Bad parts you can.

The safety protocols most people even hospitals are following are practically worthless other than quarantining people that have been exposed or showing symptoms.


In the case of a person knowingly having covid and being allowed in you'd own the school and the guy's house. The odds of that happening is less than zero.

[bucky]

Originally Posted by LRZ

Why would I voluntarily concede that benefit to schools?

To answer the question, some would concede the benefit in order to work at the school. Not to be snide or argue, but officials concede things all the time in order to work at schools, many of which are considered inherent risks.

[LRZ]

Originally Posted by bucky

To answer the question, some would concede the benefit in order to work at the school. Not to be snide or argue, but officials concede things all the time in order to work at schools, many of which are considered inherent risks.

That may be, but there are risks and then there are BIG RISKS, like the risk of serious, life-threatening illness or death. And, at my level, we're not talking about sacrificing college-level fees by refusing to sign a waiver and not working a game. I'm retired, I don't need the money to live on, and, at my age, the amount I earn is hardly enough to risk my health.

I'm more leery about basketball than soccer, my other officiating sport. We have not heard anything about waivers in soccer, which begins next week. If the league and its schools don't require waivers for soccer--and we still don't know for sure--who knows if they will do likewise for basketball, being played indoors, in a smaller space, and with closer proximity to players. There is still a lot of confusion and uncertainty, and we have not received definitive protocols from the state or league.

[BillyMac]

Some good news:

https://www.courant.com/news/connect...4qi-story.html

[BillyMac]

Got an interesting email yesterday. Our state board (representing six local boards, covering every interscholastic basketball official in the state) has decided to withhold our annual dues to the state interscholastic sports governing body until were assured that there will be interscholastic basketball in the winter of 2020-21 (basketball officials are the only winter sports officials to withhold annual dues).

Also received another email from a reliable source who is hearing about many high schools and/or school systems opting out of junior varsity, freshman, and middle school basketball games this upcoming COVID season.

The only fall indoor sport here is girls volleyball and the girls are playing while wearing masks, a concession made to the State Department of Health, who initially wanted fall girls volleyball to be played outdoors. I don't know much about girls high school volleyball but it seems to be a stop and start game that can be played with masks.

I'm not so sure that high school basketball can be played while wearing masks, if it ever comes to that.

I think back to my varsity officiating days, on large high school courts (some college size), trying to run like a gazelle, finishing the game with my underskirt, jersey, slacks, and socks, fully soaked in sweat, working only as as an official, not actually playing, I can't imagine high school players participating while wearing masks.