Liability?
 

After just reading a post I thought of a question I've long wondered about.


Officials Liability

Are there circumstances where the official is liable for the actions of players/coaches and/or fans.

For instance if we didn't break up a fight fast enough and someone got seriously hurt.

Or a situation that happened to me.... the metal circle covers for the volleyball poles. I often have to put these back into place as they come unhooked and such. IS knowing they are loose MY liability?

In a word: yes.

Remember: liability is not so much a firm concept as a tool that lawyers use to extract billions of dollars from insurance companies.

Follow meticulously the procedures in the appropriate official's manual, and you'll be minimizing your liability and helping your lawyer out in case of mishap.

What do you mean break up a fight? My responsibility is to enforce the rules, not get in between players that are throwing punches.

We recently had a meeting and talked about fights. We heard of a time about 10 years ago where there was some rough play and someone caught a flagrant elbow and sued the officials, the school and the state association. Said the officials were neglegant for not stopping rough play earlier in the game i think.

They talked about another instance where the cheerleaders left their pom poms on the floor (about 6 feet from the sideline so well out of the way). a player went OB, stepped on one and slipped, went up into the stands and broke his leg. They sued everyone imagineable and the state paid them off

Unfortunately, in our court-based world, we could be held liable for fights, injuries, etc if there is proof that we are negligent or not adjudicating the rules. Most conferences don't have any sort of legal assistance for officials. The State Assoc. of HS officials I work in does have insurance for legal coverage when we are working for them. College conferences require that we carry our own insurance policy. I am covered through NASO ($100 annually).

My advice would be: figure out what if any insurance does your group offer officials. Check into NASO. Never referee a non-sanctioned contest or game that isn't assigned by your normal supervisor. Never allow stuff like jewelry in rec-leagues that contradicts the rules.

Liability is what it is....in the mind of a juror.....If you make the cheer team pick up the pom poms and one of them strains her back, therefore losing her college scholarship....etc., etc........you can never eliminate liability, but you can SURE make yourself MORE liable......sigh :(

Great point. Our duty is to punish offenders, not restore order. A friend of mine put a player in a bear hug to break up a fight. A fan took exception and sucker-punched him in the ribs. The crew was so worried about breaking up the fight that they forgot who committed the flagrant foul that started the whole thing and they didn't get any numbers of the 4-8 players that left the benches. Fortunately, there was a tape of the incident. Had there not been, there is no way the state association could punish the offenders.

I always let coaches break up fights. And I never, ever, break up a fight between coaches. Usually, I cheer them on and look for my video cam. :p

A good reason to consider joining NASO....membership includes liability insurance.

I've seen several officials injured trying to breakup fights. If you can <b>stop</b> a fight <b>before</b> it breaks out by getting between the antagonists, fine. Once the fight starts though, stand back and take numbers. Watching/warning the benches is a must too imo.

Liability Issues
 

I actually had some games this past week where liability could have been a problem:

Varsity girls. First year varsity program at a new magnet school. I'm the referee. Pregame. Home coach tells me his players will be greatly overmatched (he was right, they lost 57-2), and that he will likely go to running time in the second half. I tell him to check with the other coach at halftime, and get back to us. A make a mental note to check the NFHS rule book at halftime, however, coaches decide between the first two periods to go to running time in the second period, after checking only with my partner. At home that night, I go to the NFHS rule book and discover that in a varsity game, the coaches and officials can shorten the periods. Here in Connecticut, we have not opted to go to running time as a "mercy rule". What if someone had been injured in this game, and blamed the officials because "my daughter may not have been playing if we shortened the periods to four minutes instead of going, illegally, to running time"?

Junior Varsity girls. As the varsity official, I'm responsible to get to the site early to watch the JV officials and give them feedback. I get there in the second period to find only one official is working the JV game. I speak to the site director, who tells me that no JV officials showed up, and that she called "John", who was local, who came right away to do the game by himself. As our board custom in these circumstances, I ask the site director if she wanted me to get dressed to help "John" in the second half of the JV game, and if so, she should get permission from the two varsity coaches. We decide that I will work with "John" for the second half. By the way we have over 280 officials on our local board, and recently merged with another local board, so I don't know all the officials, but I did recognize "John". I'm ready to go by the third period, and we're doing fine. Between the third, and fourth, periods, "John" and I chat and I discover that he was an official, but is no longer on our local board. For half a second, I consider asking him to step off the court, but, he's doing a great job, better than some of our rookie JV officials, he hustled to the site to help out the school, and he's already worked three periods, so we finish the game together. What if a player had been injured in that game, a game in which I knowingly allowed a noncertified official to work?

Lawyers. Can't live with them. Can't live without them.