The U.S. Supreme Court, sending a case back to the Sixth Circuit, has kept alive Michigan school athletic directors’ hopes of proving that they have a rational basis for scheduling some girls’ sports in different seasons than the equivalent boys’ sports (see Dec. 24-27, 2001; Jul. 10, 2004). (“Supreme Court ruling delays decision”, Saginaw News, May 3; Hope Yen, “High Court Asks 6th Circuit to Reconsider Girls Sports Seasons Ruling”, AP/Law.com, May 3). Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press says that based on actual results, the schools deserve to prevail; Michigan has one of the nation’s highest rates of participation by girls in sports and disproportionately graduates girls who win athletic scholarships in the relevant sports of volleyball and basketball. (“Gender equity no-brainer as Title IX case”, May 6).
Posts Tagged ‘sports’
“Diver’s widow sues his buddy”
The Dive Blog (Mar. 30) discusses a suit filed in Orange County, California in which Brenda Palmer-Shatz of Laguna Niguel blames the actions of Steve Feldman “whether negligent or intentional” for the drowning of her husband Daryll Shatz on Nov. 30, 2003. Feldman had been acting as Shatz’s “diving buddy” in the common practice by which scuba divers help watch out for each other’s safety. Mrs. Palmer-Shatz’s allegations of intentional misconduct, which are of the most incendiary and scandalous nature, are enough to make the suit highly unusual; but her separate allegations of negligence raise some issues of broad importance to the future of scuba diving as a sport, as DiveBlog notes:
I would hate for the perceived potential for liability to cause someone to abandon the buddy system altogether. To my knowledge, there have been very few (if any) instances where a negligence suit has succeeded against a dive buddy.
Reporter Peggy Lowe’s coverage of the story in the Orange County Register is reprinted at Underwater Times and Cyber Diver News Network.
Major League statistics
Greg Sizemore (Mar. 21) and Ron Coleman (Apr. 7 — and see comments on both posts) have some thoughts on the question of whether Major League Baseball or its players can legally block fans and fantasy sports leagues from making commercial use of player statistics. Update: May 22, 2006.
Update: Neil Pakett v. Phillies
Cougar attack lawsuit dropped
35-year-old Mark Reynolds was attacked and half-eaten by a mountain lion, while he crouched to fix his bicycle along Cactus Ridge Trail on January 8, 2004. The same day, the same cougar attacked Anne Hjelle, who was rescued. Reynolds’s family sued Orange County, California, but dropped the suit in the face of pressure from Reynolds’s fellow cyclists, who were worried that the lawsuit would provoke the county into prohibiting wilderness cycling. (Rachana Rathi, “Mauled Cyclist’s Family Drops Lawsuit”, LA Times, Mar. 29; Rachana Rathi, “Fatally Mauled Biker’s Parents Sue O.C.”, LA Times, Mar. 26; LA Times Editorial, “Joy, and Danger, of Wilderness”, Mar. 27; another website summary of lion attacks; Dan Koeppel, “The jaws of death”, Mountain Bike, Summer 2004). Wildlife officials destroyed the cougar responsible for the attacks, but California law otherwise prohibits hunting or killing mountain lions.
“GDR athletes sue over steroid damage”
“A big group of former East German athletes is to sue a pharmaceuticals giant over the damage they suffered under the country’s doping program of the 1970s and 80s.” The chief executive of the Jenapharm drug manufacturing group, Isabelle Roth, said the steroids in question were lawful and that the enterprise had no choice but to furnish them under the then-Communist regime: “As a part of a group of pharmaceutical companies, Jenapharm was obliged to collaborate in the State Plan 1425”. (BBC, Mar. 13). More: Tom Palmer comments. (& update Dec. 4).
Pro sports & intellectual property
It’s become a thriving area for lawyers, with a growing volume of litigation much of it aimed at fan activity, such as fantasy sports leagues and web-based retransmission of game broadcasts (Tresa Baldas, “Pro Sports: Technology Changes Rules of the Game”, National Law Journal, Mar. 4).
“Disabled golfer files complaint”
Says Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Tuscaloosa won’t provide free golf carts. (Stephanie Taylor, Tuscaloosa News, Dec. 15). The National Golf Course Owners Association maintains a page on ADA issues and compliance. At Cybergolf, Jeffrey D. Brauer (“Must golf courses accommodate wheelchair golfers?”, undated) discusses the impact of wheelchair-access regulation on golf course design: “The golf industry at first feared that ADA might outlaw contoured greens and fairways, and possibly sand bunkers, to achieve disabled access. Future rules revisions may eventually eliminate features like ‘perched’ greens and steep banks, but for now, traditional golf course architecture is not compromised by the guidelines.” And federal prescriptions on the design of miniature golf courses can be found here.
Rasheed Wallace sued
Portland, Oregon, tattooist Matthew Reed doesn’t quite want an arm and a leg in his lawsuit against Rasheed Wallace, but he’s close. Reed is upset that the large Egyptian tattoo he gave Wallace in 1998 for $450 is being used in Nike advertising, and wants an injunction and damages for alleged copyright infringement. (Ashbel S. Green, “Ink is dry on tattoo but fresh on lawsuit”, The Oregonian, Feb. 15; AP/Det. News, Feb. 16 (with photo)).
My law firm has represented Nike in other litigation.
If the government wants to save money, it could start here
Logan Young loves Alabama football. He loves it so much that he paid a Memphis-area high school coach $150,000 in exchange for the coach steering a top recruit to Alabama. This act was certainly immoral and violated about twenty NCAA violations. But because the coach works for a public school, the act was also bribery of a state official. And so the federal government prosecuted Young under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), and convicted him for conspiracy, bribery and money laundering. (AP, “Shady boosters can now fear federal prosecutors,” (Feb. 5); “The real outrage was Young’s conduct,” Birmingham News, Feb. 6). Was this really the best use of government resources? RICO, a statute originally targeted at organized crime, has been extended far beyond this purpose and is now used to go after abortion protestors and immoral boosters. I do not agree with what Logan did, but I would argue that the detriment to society is not so great to warrant such an expenditure of tax dollars and judicial resources.