Sports Injury Lawsuits

Ohio Sports Injury Lawyer

Participation in sports brings excitement, discipline, and community, but it also carries risks. Among the most serious are brain injuries, which can have lifelong consequences. In Ohio, athletes and families are increasingly turning to the courts when concussions, repeated head trauma, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) result from negligence, unsafe coaching practices, or improper medical care.

Understanding Sports-Related Brain Trauma

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury caused by a sudden impact or jolt to the head. Symptoms often include confusion, dizziness, headaches, and memory problems. For many athletes, repeated concussions may lead to more severe conditions such as CTE, a degenerative disease linked to mood changes, impaired thinking, and memory loss.

Although football is often in the spotlight, head injuries occur in many sports, including hockey, soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, and even cheerleading. Young athletes are especially vulnerable, and the effects may not appear until years later.

Sports injuries are extremely common across the nation. While most athletic injuries are simply accidental, others may be due to defective sports equipment or negligent supervisors and property managers. Sports-related injuries account for about 3.2 million visits to hospitals each year, with about 775,000 children treated in hospital emergency rooms.

If you suspect any sports injury is due to unsafe property, negligent individuals or product defects, it is critical to contact a sports injury lawyer to investigate the root cause of an accident and injury. It is also important to preserve any physical evidence and take photographs of the accident scene when possible.

Joe Lyon is a highly-rated product liability attorney and sports injury lawyer investigating injuries related to defective sports equipment and representing plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits nationwide.

Common Sports Injuries

There is a growing incidence of traumatic brain injury among athletes, and Ohio enacted a “Return to Play” law, which requires coaches to pull players out of a game or practice if they show any symptoms of a concussion. Other common injuries may include:

• Brain Injury
• Neck & Spinal Injury
• Orthopedic Trauma
• Severe Lacerations
• Burn Injury
• Football Head Injuries

Who May Be Legally Responsible?

In Ohio, whether an athlete can recover compensation depends on proving that another party acted carelessly or violated a duty of care. Possible defendants may include:

• Schools and Teams: Coaches who ignore return-to-play rules or fail to recognize the signs of a concussion can be held liable.
• Medical Providers: Trainers or physicians who clear athletes too quickly or fail to diagnose a head injury may face claims.
• Leagues and Governing Bodies: Organizations that establish safety rules but fail to enforce them may be responsible for resulting harm.
• Equipment Companies: Helmet or gear manufacturers that release defective products onto the market can also be sued.

While Ohio law acknowledges that athletes voluntarily assume some risks, this does not excuse negligence or reckless behavior. A team, school, or organization cannot hide behind “assumption of risk” when it fails to protect its players.

CTE and Large-Scale Litigation

The long-term effects of repeated brain trauma have sparked major lawsuits nationwide, most notably against the NFL and NCAA. These high-profile cases have led to settlements worth billions. Although an individual Ohio athlete may not be part of those suits, the legal principles are similar. Families may pursue compensation for ongoing medical treatment, lost wages, permanent disability, or emotional suffering connected to concussions and CTE.

Defective Sports Equipment & Safety Hazards

• Paintball Injury
• ATV Accidents
• Defective Guns
• Hunting Accidents
• Defective Bicycles
• Boat Accident Injury
• Defective playground equipment
• Defective Gym Equipment
• Defective Helmets
• Horseback Accidents
• Trampoline Injury

Football Concussions & ALS

Sports concussions are more dangerous than previously thought. A former student and football player from the California University of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for injuries sustained while playing college football which he believes led to his diagnosis of ALS. Matthew Onyshko alleges that the NCAA should have tried to prevent the concussions he suffered during his career as a student athlete.

According to a recent article published in Neurology magazine, college athletes will experience ‘white-matter’ changes, even if they do not suffer concussions. The study suggests that these changes “may have some significance” in terms of effecting verbal learning  and memory.

The NCAA claims that there is no connection between the ALS diagnosis and the organization stating that the NCAA continues to ensure the safety of its football players through product safety testing.

The liability of serious head injuries is not always clear. However, victims and their attorneys argue that sports equipment manufacturers fail to properly warn players of the risks, and schools and doctors may be concealing important safety information, endangering any student involved in contact sports.

There has been much publicity over the class action concussion lawsuit brought on behalf of former NFL players, college athletes, and NHL players. Now, the issue has been raised at the high school level, where minors have been exposed to the same type of head trauma subject to post-concussive syndrome, CTE and long-term memory loss.

School Liability Lawsuits

Daniel Bukal, who played for Notre Dame College Prep school, sued the Illinois High School Association for failing to have policies in place that would minimize the types of side effects he sustained due to his concussion injuries in high school. Schools are generally immune from general negligence claims.

However, where the school increases the risk of danger and fails to implement appropriate safety policy in light of evidence of a significant risk, the school may be liable under Ohio law. The standard is a higher standard of recklessness or gross negligence, which requires evidence the school knew of the danger and ignored it thereby increasing the risk.

The lawsuit here argues that the school and athletic association failed to implement a policy to evaluate at what point players should be allowed to return to the field if and when they sustain certain injuries. The lawsuit further alleges the athletic association failed to require schools to conduct any baseline testing for concussions before and during the season.

Finally, the association allegedly failed to have professional medical personnel present on the field during football games to make more appropriate calls regarding players who are injured.

In combination, and with the knowledge of the dangers of concussions and frequency of an Football Head Injuries suffering a high school sports concussion, the conduct could rise to the level of recklessness to meet an immunity exception.

Considering a Sports Injury Lawsuit?

Athletes assume certain inherent risks of injury, but that does not include claims where injury was caused by someone’s recklessness or a product defect that directly caused an accident and injury.

Even though an injury release form may have been signed, there can be exceptions when injuries happen as a result of negligence. This can include a negligent coach, unsafe gear provided, improper supervision, poor training, inadequate medical care, or unsafe athletic premises.

Compensation may be recovered for plaintiffs for past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages against a negligent manufacturer of sports equipment for a blatant disregard for the safety of consumers.