Possible Lawsuit in NJ: Why you should join NASO

[ljudge]

Part 1 of 2.....

Gentlemen:

If you never thought of getting insurance to cover you for unexpected legal action perhaps this story may convince you. Your respective chapter or state association most likely has insurance purhcased on your behalf (as ours does) but I happily pay my ~$90 to join NASO every year. I posted this tragic story last August of how a South Jersey football player was paralyzed in a scrimmage.

This just shows no matter all the good you do (as the opposing coach did here) you can still get slapped in the face. My entire chapter donated one of our weekly paychecks to this individual which raised several thousand dollars. I still haven't heard whether the officials have been named as defendants in this possible lawsuit. I read a post myself on a fans forum that was put out by this coach asking for donations to help this kid. I read articles of how many times he and his wife went to the hospital to help this kid and his family and comfort them.

Exactly how the heck could this possibly be the opposing coaches fault? Or anyone else's for that matter?

I'm going to cut this in half becuase you're limited to how many characters can show up in a post.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/app...WS01/704290374


Legal action shocks Samaritans

By CHUCK GORMLEY
Courier-Post Staff


As president of Eastern Regional High School's football booster club, Jack Geisel was videotaping the Vikings' scrimmage game against Woodrow Wilson High School on Aug. 25, 2006, when Shykem Lawrence, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound safety for Woodrow Wilson, lowered his helmet and drove it into the thigh of a 5-foot-11, 245-pound running back from Eastern.

Geisel watched in horror as the athletic trainers from both schools, Dorrell Morrison of Woodrow Wilson and Casey Christy of Eastern, tried administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Lawrence, who had fractured the C-3 region of his spine and was lying motionless on his back.

"It could have been two or three minutes, but I knew he had stopped breathing," said Geisel, 45, a special-needs teacher who coached football at Camden Catholic, Cherry Hill West and Gateway Regional high schools. "Those guys worked their butts off to save that boy on the field. Now the coaches have to go through a big lawsuit like this. It leaves me speechless."

The threat of a $10 million lawsuit has unleashed a torrent of emotions for many of the people who have worked tirelessly to aid Lawrence and his family. While they remain committed to helping the 18-year-old Lawrence with his devastating ordeal, they are shocked to see Eastern High School football coach Dan Spittal, in particular, and some others named as possible defendants in the case.

"It is hard for me to understand why Dan has to worry about this lawsuit after all he has done out of the goodness of his heart for Shykem and his family," Kathie Spittal said of her husband.

Shykem's mother, Nita Lawrence, was contacted five times by the Courier-Post for this story, but declined comment. Her family's lawyer, Ronald R. Gilbert of Fenton, Mich., said last week that the litigation is "on hold," pending further investigation.

In a notice of claim dated March 20, the football coaches, principals and superintendents at Woodrow Wilson and Eastern high schools were among 18 people named in a $10 million claim filed under the New Jersey Municipal Tort Claims Act. The notice of claim alleges Lawrence was provided with inadequate or improper coaching, along with other transgressions that would be "uncovered through discovery."

A notice of claim preserves the claimant's right to file a lawsuit later against governmental agencies.

Spittal and Luther Howard, the head coach at Woodrow Wilson, are among those named in the court filing. Howard, who is in his first year as head coach at Woodrow Wilson, has been requested by the Camden Board of Education to provide documentation of tackling drills. Both coaches have refused to go on record with their feelings over the potential lawsuit.

Kathie Spittal as well as Jack and Jackie Geisel have agreed to share their accounts of that fateful August night, the outpouring of support the Lawrence family received from the South Jersey football community over the next eight months, and their disappointment in seeing the Lawrence family pursue legal action against both schools, and Dan Spittal in particular.

Continued.....

[ljudge]

Fateful night

Kathie Spittal was at home Aug. 25 when she received a call from her husband. He said a player had been seriously injured during Eastern's home scrimmage and that she should drive with him to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where Lawrence was being taken.

"Dan knew it was grave, but was praying things would be better than he expected," Kathie Spittal said. "He had already been through this with Adam Taliaferro, and to be honest I don't think he ever thought he would have to relive that nightmare again in his lifetime."

Taliaferro, an Eastern graduate Spittal had coached, was paralyzed after making a tackle in a 2000 football game for Penn State. He has since regained full range of motion. Taliaferro and his father, Andre, were watching the scrimmage at the time of Lawrence's injury.

Andre Taliaferro, a close friend of Howard, joined the coaches, athletic directors and athletic trainers from both schools at Cooper that night.

At the hospital, the Lawrences learned that Shykem had suffered multiple spinal fractures and that if he survived, there was little chance he would walk again.

"It was a sad situation, not only because of the news the family had just received," Kathie Spittal said, "but the conditions of the family."

Spittal said Lawrence's mother, Nita, arrived at the hospital in a car that looked like it was "from a junk yard" and was joined by her mother, Vivian Sims, her sisters and three of her six children. Her grandson, 1-year-old Omarion, was sleeping in the car.

Kathie Spittal, a teacher for the past 26 years in the Woodbury School District, said she spent much of that night trying to comfort Shykem's four sisters, Shanique, 20, Shyquana, 16, Ledora, 14, and Benita, 9, and his 15-year-old brother, Benjamin.

"I have seen some terrible situations over my (26) years, but I had not seen anything like I was witnessing that night," Spittal said. "A very young mother (Nita Lawrence is 34) with six children who were homeless, a car that looked as though, without exaggeration, it was . . . from a junk yard, that you couldn't help but wonder how it got from point A to point B.

"It was crazy and insane. The stories just got bigger and bigger and my emotional connection to the girls and family only got deeper and deeper as the days, weeks and months went by."

Taking action

On the night of Shykem's injury, Kathie and Dan Spittal returned to their home in Voorhees well after midnight and Dan Spittal immediately e-mailed a letter to the Eastern Football Booster Club, along with football coaches throughout South Jersey, stating the Lawrence family not only needed prayers, but a home, food and clothing.

"And that is how it started," Kathie Spittal said. "It snowballed with an outpouring of support from everyone."

Immediately after Shykem's injury, Nita Lawrence, who had been evicted from a hotel and was living out of her car with two of her six children, moved her family into her mother's two-bedroom house in Pemberton Township.

For the next month, Vivian Sims' home became the drop-off point for food, clothing and anything else that could be collected by the booster club.

"The back of my Explorer was filled up three times in the first week," said Jack Geisler, who had e-mailed coaches throughout the Gibbsboro-Voorhees Athletic Association. "Everybody stepped up."

While the Geislers directed fundraising and delivery efforts, Dan and Kathie Spittal spent much of their time visiting Shykem in the hospital.

"Dan and I returned to the hospital Saturday and Sunday morning (Aug. 26 and Aug. 27) with hoagies, soft drinks, chips for the family and I'm telling you, there were dozens of family members there all waiting for lunch," Kathie Spittal said. "In the beginning, Dan and I always represented the Eastern community and nothing more. That changed over time as we both got attached to the family."

Outpouring

As the Spittals became closer to Shykem and his family, donations continued to pour in from the South Jersey sports community.

Jackie Geisel said that more than $2,000 in gift cards to Acme, Target, Walmart and other retailers were collected and given to the Lawrence family.

The Adam Taliaferro Foundation established a separate fund for Shykem and provided him with new clothing, an iPod, an XM satellite radio, a portable DVD player, new pillows and blankets, a fan for his hospital room and food cards to his favorite restaurants. The organization also supplied Nita Lawrence and Sims with cellular telephones.

"Anything that we thought would make him a little happier and more comfortable, we bought," Kathie Spittal said. "It did not matter. We spent the money as if there was no end to it, and there wasn't."

While the Spittals made sure all of Shykem's needs were met, Jackie Geisler said a friend of the Spittal family anonymously donated a rent-free, three-bedroom house on Baird Boulevard in Camden for the Lawrence family. Shykem and his family have been living in the house since his release from Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia earlier this month.

The Adam Taliaferro Foundation contributed more than $25,000 to make the house wheelchair accessible, adding a back-door elevator to allow Shykem in and out of the house, a plasma television, an air conditioner and a new electrical system to support his ventilator.

But the house needed to be furnished.

"Someone donated a truck and picked up bedding in Medford," Jackie Geisler said. "Someone else knew someone in Society Hill who had dressers and furniture and we had them delivered."

Kathie Spittal helped purchase bathroom and kitchen accessories and a parent of one of her students donated a computer for Shykem's siblings.

"We had what they needed, but they seemed to become dependent," Jackie Geisler said. "They were genuinely appreciative, but as time wore on, they began saying, "We need something. Let's ask for it.' "

At Magee

After Shykem was admitted to Magee in late September, the Adam Taliaferro Foundation paid more than $2,000 a month for a companion to spend seven hours a night with Shykem and 12 hours a day on weekends.

When Kathie Spittal realized she and her husband were spending more time with Shykem than his family, she said she began cutting back on visits.

"When Shykem would end up back in the hospital for complications, so did we for hours at a time, most of the time by ourselves," Kathie Spittal said. "Whenever (Nita) needed something she did not hesitate to call Dan or myself. Dan never said no. It did not matter what she asked for, Dan got it or found someone who could get it. We did it because it was the right thing to do.

"I stopped going to visit Shykem when he started to get upset that I could not spend the night with him or the time he wanted from me. He hated being alone.

"Emotionally, I could not keep putting myself through it. But Dan never stopped, until he was served with papers."

"It was devastating'

When Dan Spittal received the letter late last month accusing him and his school of negligence in Shykem's injury, he ceased all contact with the Lawrence family.

"It was devastating to all of us," Jackie Geisler said of the threat of a lawsuit. "Dan and Kathie were really his surrogates."

Kathie Spittal said her husband wants nothing but the best for Shykem and was deeply hurt by the suit's allegations of negligence.

"No one wants Shykem to have a comfortable life more than my husband," Kathie Spittal said. "He has a lot of emotions and concerns for that young man. He has lost a lot of sleep worrying about what kind of life Shykem has been left with.

"If Dan had an extra 10 million in his pocket, believe me, it would be in Shykem's hands. That is who my husband is, that is what my husband stands for."

Larry Ginsburg, a former football coach at Eastern who founded the Adam Taliaferro Foundation and is now its treasurer, said about $30,000 has been raised specifically for Shykem's needs, but about $50,000 has been spent on him and his family since the injury.

He said the foundation will continue to support Shykem, providing him with transportation to the Woodrow Wilson senior prom next month and to his high school graduation in June.

"As far as we're concerned, we're still his surrogate family," Ginsburg said. "If he needs us, we're there for him. But one thing we're not going to do again is just give them money."

Kathie Spittal said that is the same message she and her husband want to convey.

"Shykem is entitled to have enough money to give him a quality of life, whatever that is," Kathie Spittal said. "He certainly does not deserve what he has been dealt.

"He was a young man playing a game he loved. He was not on a street corner pushing drugs and got shot. He was not robbing a corner store and got shot. He was just playing a game that he hoped would better his future.

"No one can or should deny Shykem the money that will help assist him living that quality life. It is just hard for me to understand what Dan has to do with the injury."

[MadCityRef]

This is an example of how officials and coaches must teach kids to tackle with their bodies, and not their heads.
We must penalize leading with the helmet (offense and defense) every time. Yeah, you'll catch hell for it, but here's the alternative.
"Coach, I'll trade your anger for a kids ability to walk every time."

[MJT]

Originally Posted by MadCityRef

This is an example of how officials and coaches must teach kids to tackle with their bodies, and not their heads.
We must penalize leading with the helmet (offense and defense) every time. Yeah, you'll catch hell for it, but here's the alternative.
"Coach, I'll trade your anger for a kids ability to walk every time."

I don't think there is a coach out there who does not tell their kids to tackle with their head up and to the side. They talk about it, do drills to show kids how to do it right, then a kids makes a mistake and an accident occurs and the parents blame and sue the coach. This coach has done so much to help this family and this his how he gets repayed? Tell me what the principal and superintendent did to contribute to this accident? What a crock! Some lawyer got to them and convinced them there is blame share and money to be made. Obviously they weren't blaming the coach when they'd call him for more stuff they needed. This is just another example of how twisted our society has become! I feel bad for the player and his family, but it was an accident, a freak accident, and no one is really to blame. But hey if we can get some money out of it, let's do it!

[Jim D]

I'm not a lawyer or a legal expert but I believe the common practice is to name everyone in a suit that might possibly be even remotely connected. In a case like this the lawyers might name to school district, coaches, trainers, officials, equipment makers, EMS people, doctors, etc., etc. Then, as discovery goes on, they drop defendents from the law suit.

That's one huge reason why I join NASO. Even if I'm not really involved in some problem, I still may get sued and have to hire a lawyer to represent me.

[Texas Aggie]

common practice is to name everyone in a suit that might possibly be even remotely connected.

You have to have a specific cause of action against each individual defendant or you run the risk of getting sanctioned. This was such a horribly written article, I can't begin to comment on it because I couldn't tell what the hell actually happened.

[parepat]

Sounds to me that this is a notice that needs to be served within a certain time frame to protect the right to sue. In order to preserve the rights of the plaintiff these are routinely filed against everyone involved and then the true defendants are sorted out later.

[legend]

How would any action done here to revive the kid be any different then those at a car accident? I believe that in most states have good samaratian laws in place to help protect the witnesses who try to help individuals in catastrophic situations (I.E. car on fire, unconscienous passanger.....etc.) If the coaches stepped up and actually saved this childs life I would think that such a law would protect them........ correct?

[Texas Aggie]

legend: I think the focus of the lawsuit would be more on the coaching -- i.e. the coach was negligent in that they didn't teach them to tackle with their head up. EMTs and such have qualified immunity in most or all states. Qualified means there's a presumption that their actions are immune without a showing of something more -- e.g. gross negligence.

[ljudge]

What's even more strange is the opposing coach may be sued...and his team was on offense! It's not his job to teach tackling kid to the opponent. And, it's not like one of his kids blocked the kid with a dangerous or illegal technique. If that were the case I supposed there could be some foundation. The kid simply tried to tackle their brusing fullback who I understand is like "a bull."