http://tbo.com/sports/colleges/floridas-highest-court-rules-ucf-has-immunity-20150528/
Means that their damages are capped at $200,000.
Means that their damages are capped at $200,000.
E. Plancher's Parents lose their appeal
- Thread starter SCKnight
- Start date
UCF was probably only out their deductible under their insurance policy. All of this was paid for by the insurance company who has a duty to defend and indemnify UCF.
Had the Planchers won, the money would not have come from UCF. So UCF is not vindicated, they were still found liable and the Planchers get nothing because I guarantee that the costs associated with the trial and the appeal are close to $200k. Plaintiff's attorneys get nothing. In reality only the insurance company benefits.
I read that our attorney fees were in the millions along with the plaintiff's attorney fees in the millions Yeah, the fees are likely paid out of the insurance policy though. Losing that case would likely of spurred higher premiums for all the Florida schools setup as a non profit Entity.
I'm glad Yerrid got screwed though.
I'm glad Yerrid got screwed though.
There were one or two more sickle cell cases since this one, does anyone know how they turned out?
I am sure UCF paid outside counsel to make sure that the insurance company was behaving and providing the best legal defense that it could. In the end it was a sad situation. I have no doubt that Erik knew he had sickle cell but chose to play anyway, but also UCF knew and probably should have had more awareness of the symptoms. I know the whole situation weighed heavily on the hearts of everyone involved.
It's unfortunate that a monetary value related to death of a young student athlete has to be dragged out in court for so long. The only ones again who win are the lawyers and most forget about the athlete. However, I'm glad that Plancher's lawyer lost. I mean 10 million? Come on. Who pays for that ultimately?
I don't think GOL was found at fault in what happened to Ereck. My recollection of the testimony is that the water jugs were moved off the practice field so they would not be in the way of a drill GOL was going to have the team do. The jugs were still accessible to all of the players; they just simply were moved so they would not be an obstruction. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.
I think that there was some testimony that may have suggested that GOL went as far as ordering water to be removed from the practice field for toughness sake. That seems highly unlikely. However, at this point it's water under the bridge. I think it comes down to the fact that someone must have known that Ereck had sickle cell trait and it's just too risky to play sports at this level of cardiovascular intensity AND in the Florida heat with these types of health conditions. Life is too short. People can blame football programs, practice characteristics, coaches, etc., but the bottom line is if it didn't happen in that particular practice, who's to say that it wouldn't happen in another practice, scrimmage, actual game, etc.? There are just too many cases like this of sudden death. It's just too risky IMO. Also, there's no way that UCF and GOL could have known that he had sickle cell trait and both Ereck and his
parents didn't know. That seems even more unlikely.
parents didn't know. That seems even more unlikely.
