Environmental Education

GAMEON Sports Law
LEGALACTION
BY ANDREW COHEN
by allowing students participating
in potentially dangerous
sporting activities to be in the
care, custody and control of
Berezwick and Edmonds.
In order for Yatsko to show
that Berezwick, Edmonds
and the school district
violated her rights under
Section 1983, the Federal
District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania ruled
that she would have to
establish two points. First,
she would have to show that
the conduct complained of
was committed by a person
acting under color of state law.
Second, the court held that
she would have to show that
the conduct deprived her of
rights secured under the U.S.
Constitution or federal law.
The court determined,
first, that since the individual
coaches were employed by
Representatives of the U.S. Department
of Education’s Office for Civil
Rights are racking up the frequent
flier miles lately, with a number of
Southern California schools being
investigated for alleged gender
discrimination. The William S. Hart
Union High School District in Santa
Clarita is under the microscope after
a parental complaint alleged that
the district has failed to provide
“benefits, opportunities and services
to female athletes that are equivalent
to those provided to male athletes”
at three high schools. At issue are
girls’ softball fields that either are
nonexistent, shared, inaccessible
to persons with disabilities or don’t
meet the standards of boys’ baseball
facilities, as well as substandard
girls’ locker facilities.
Meanwhile, a continuing OCR
investigation of the Benicia Unified
School District has revealed a
huge disparity in the amount of
money spent on boys’ and girls’
high school sports programs.
According to the Vallejo Times
Herald, more than $87,000 was
spent during the 2006-07 school
year on boys’ programs as compared
to $6,900 on girls’ programs, a
figure that includes $20,325 spent
on boys’ baseball and zero dollars
allocated to girls’ softball. In
another indication of an unfair
playing field, financial statements
compiled of the school’s booster
club, which manages athletic funds
for the district, indicate that while
the Benicia girls’ and boys’ tennis
teams each had 24 players last
season, the boys’ team’s transportation
expenses came to $5,300
and the girls’ team’s to just $1,300.
The full Nevada Supreme Court is
considering the appeal of a Las
Vegas 51s fan injured by a foul
ball in 2002. A panel of three justices
heard oral arguments in the
case in October, but the seven-
32 ATHLETIC BUSINESS APRIL 2008 ATHLETICBUSINESS.COM
the school district, they were
acting under color of state
law. With regard to the second
issue, Yatsko argued that
she was deprived of her
Fourteenth Amendment right
to substantive due process
when Berezwick and
Edmonds, in their role as
employees, failed to keep her
free from state-created dangers.
In addition, Yatsko argued that
the school district failed to
established proper policies,
procedures and training for
personnel responsible for
supervising athletes. Such
neglect, Yatsko argued,
amounted to reckless indifference
to student-athletes’ needs.
However, the court, citing
County of Sacramento v. Lewis
[523 U.S. 833, 118 S. Ct. 1708,
140 L. Ed. 2d 1043 (1998)],
held that Yatsko must
show that Berezwick and
Edmonds’ actions reached an
even higher — or lower,
depending on your point of
view — standard. Yatsko
would have to demonstrate,
the court stated, that the
coaches’ actions were so illconceived
or malicious that
they “shock the conscience.”
Yatsko, the court concluded,
was unable to do so. In support
of its decision, the court
noted that while her coaches
knew, or should have known,
that she probably had suffered
a concussion, their actions —
failing to ensure that Yatsko
received treatment, or allowing
her to play in a subsequent
game — only amounted to
negligence. As the court noted,
the coaches did not use
their authority to force her to
play in the game or refuse a
request for medical treatment
— they simply made an illadvised
decision to allow
her to participate, which by
member court subsequently
announced that it would consider
the appeal en banc. Kathleen
Turner, 54, was eating a sandwich
in the Beer Garden at Cashman
Field when a foul ball struck her
between the eyes, leaving her
with a broken nose and facial
lacerations. Turner’s lawsuit against
Mandalay Bay Entertainment,
which operates the stadium, was
dismissed by a judge in 2005.
Mandalay Bay’s attorneys have
asked the Supreme Court to adopt
the limited-duty rule that has long
protected stadium operators from
litigation, describing Turner as an
experienced baseball spectator
and noting the language printed on
all baseball tickets that warns fans
to pay attention to the game at all
times. However, Turner’s attorney,
Beau Sterling, has argued that
the Beer Garden’s “casual atmosphere”
lulled his client “into a
feeling of complacency.” Ω