Earrings & Liability

[BayStateRef]

I was polite. What I wanted to tell her is that the officials are the sole arbiters of the rules and she should back them 100 percent. I know of several tournaments and leagues that state the rules that simply -- and do it.

Besides, "Religious and medical alert medals are not considered jewelry." (3-5-7)

[BillyMac]

Players may not participate while wearing jewelry. Religious medals or medical alert medals are not considered jewelry. A religious medal must be taped and worn under the uniform. A medical alert medal must be taped and may be visible. State associations may, on an individual basis, allow a player to participate while wearing a head covering, if it is worn for medical or religious reasons, provided that the covering is not abrasive, hard, or dangerous, and is attached in such a way that it is highly unlikely to come off during play. Written documentation should be available.

[Kelvin green]

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.

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....

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

No, not necessarily. The rule on jewelry is absolute and the exceptions are clearly spelled out in the rulebook. Conversely, the amount of contact allowed is subjective and sometimes unpredictable. I've had games in which contact was called very tight and then, all of a sudden, one of the players tries to take another player's head off (figuratively). You could have a series of games called "loosely" with no incidents at all. As you all know, IANAL (that means "I Am Not A Lawyer", not "I'm Anal" - OK, maybe I am), but I think you're OK unless you continuously allow egregious and/or outrageous behavior.

There's a pill for that. But you probably already know about it.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

There's a pill for that. But you probably already know about it.

Is that a, um, well, um.... What's it called again?

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Is that a, um, well, um.... What's it called again?

[mdray]

Originally Posted by BayStateRef

I sent an email to the tournament director today.

just wondering....did you mention to your assigner that you were intending to do that? Just thinking how assigners would view that....if there was an issue with a school AD, would it be the right thing for a letter directed to the AD to come from the official involved or from the assigner...jmho, but I'd tell the assigner my concerns and let her/him deal with the TD...then if it wasn't resolved to my satisfaction, I wouldn't be available for that site/tournament anymore