Sports Law: Federal and Ohio: Injuries & Torts

Return to play law requires coaches to pull players out of a game or practice if they exhibit the signs of a concussion or head injury. The players can return to play only after they’ve been cleared by a medical professional.

Michelle D. McGirt, 6 Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports L.J. 219 (1999).

Richard J. Hunter Jr., An "Insider's" Guide to the Legal Liability of Sports Contest Officials, 15 Marq. Sports L. Rev. 369 (2005)

“Where individuals engage in recreational or sports activities, they assume the ordinary risks of the activity and cannot recover for any injury unless it can be shown that the other participant’s actions were either ‘reckless’ or ‘intentional’.

Ohio Supreme Court said that between participants in a sporting event, only injuries caused by intentional conduct, or reckless conduct, may give rise to a cause of action — Player who injures another player during a sporting event by conduct that is a customary part of the sport cannot be held liable for negligence.

Liability waivers signed by parents on behalf of their children are effective in Ohio, at least when the organization is a non-profit.

Blog post by Ohio attorney, Frank Galluci, Dec. 2022

JD Supra 6/22/21

ABC News 4/23/24