Play Ball! - Articles

April 2000 - Play Ball!

by Sam N. Gregorio and Richard H. Middleton, Jr.

As community youth sports leagues gear up for the spring and summer seasons, one can't help but raise a voice and root them on.

Another cheer should be raised to show appreciation for the many advancements in sports safety that ensure our children are able to have fun and safe playing experiences, much of it brought about through America's civil justice system.

That's just what Sports Illustrated did in its landmark piece entitled, "The Safest Season," detailing the first season in years in which no high school football players died from head injuries. The reason: juries ensured that inferior helmets have no place on the playing field.

That means that last year was the first in years in which there were no stories like James Arnold's. In 1988, James was rendered quadriplegic and respirator-dependent after a junior high football collision fractured his spine. The jury found that the helmet he was wearing was defective and that the company's decision to not add proper padding to the helmet—padding the company included in other models—was the cause of his injury.

The civil justice system has had an effect on more than sports safety equipment. It was this system that opened up Little League programs to girls. That landmark case — Rappaport v. Little League Baseball, Inc. — was filed in March 1974. Three months later, the Little League issued a public statement that it would immediately permit girls to register in the league's program.

Not everyone is happy about juries' effects upon youth sports. One concern often heard is that the threat of litigation has driven up the cost of liability insurance, threatening the survival of these leagues. But the facts do not support such allegations.

In fact, the opposite is true. A study by the Risk and Insurance Management Society reveals that liability costs are actually decreasing, with the cost of liability risk per $1000 of revenue falling from $3.14 in 1992 to $1.93 in 1997.

If the cost of litigation were increasing, those prices would be going up, not down.

In addition, a study released in February 2000 by two University of Georgia professors defuses the "litigation explosion" myth. After examining more than 27,000 Georgia civil cases in several counties over eight years, the professors found that not only do tort suits—including product cases—make up only a small fraction of the overall civil caseload (about 5 percent to 7 percent), but that the rate of tort filings is actually declining when adjusted for population growth.

The fact is that Americans believe in the concept of personal responsibility. That's a valuable lesson taught in youth sports and put into action by our civil justice system.

Richard H. Middleton, Jr., president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, is a partner in the Savannah, GA, law firm of Middleton, Mixson, Orr & Adams.

Sam N. Gregorio, president of Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, is a sole practitioner in Shreveport.

Reprinted with permission of Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, P. O. Box 4289, Baton Rouge; (225) 383-5554 or (800) 354-6267.