Liability concerns are reportedly one of the leading factors in why the Big Ten and PAC 12 suspended fall sports.
Legal analyst Tim Meche says those conferences had good reason to believe that, and there’s already precedent for wide-scale health-related sports lawsuits.
“It is just like the head injuries, they have already had a class action in the NFL and I think they have had one in college football. This has liability written all over it and this could be a disaster for a lot of schools,” says Meche.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey says the SEC plans on further refining its policies to promote a safe return to play while monitoring the situation.
Meche says the potential lawsuits would arise from long-term damage or death related to COVID-19 cases linked to athletics programs. But how can you prove a player got the case from sports?
“A good lawyer can probably find a way, probably find an expert to say that, and he will probably convince a jury somewhere. Somebody has potential liability somewhere and that is what scares people,” says Meche.
One idea being pushed to counter potential suits is that players must sign a liability waiver to play, but Meche says liability law is on a state-by-state basis.
“Louisiana for instance has a civil cose article that says you cannot waive liability for instances of gross negligence, and this could conceiveably be considered such,” says Meche.
The NCAA has already spoken out against the use of athletics waivers by schools, and federal legislation has been proposed that would ban them.
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