Playing It Safer: Managing Concussion-Litigation Risk In K-12 Athletics

Following a week-long trial in May, an Iowa jury concluded that Bedford High School was negligent in the way it handled a head injury to former high school freshman football player Kacey Strough. The jury awarded Kacey $1 million, which, according to media reports, is the largest recorded verdict in a high school athletics head-injury case. What can your school do to prevent something like this happening to your students and your school?

The Strough Case In A Nutshell

Kacey Strough was a freshman football player with a pre-existing medical condition known as a "cavernous malformation," which consists of abnormally formed blood vessels in the brain. He suffered a head injury while playing football, but the school allowed him to keep practicing and playing. He also alleged that his teammates engaged in bullying behavior which aggravated his injury, repeatedly throwing footballs at his head.