Should Glen Dorsey file a law suit against the SEC to protect himself?

As many have mentioned, insurance is an option and someone of Dorsey's ability is surely aware of it. Although I would say that most of these players LOVE to play and getting a free ride on top of that is the best of both worlds.

http://www.healthdecisions.org/News/default.aspx?doc_id=115825

 

So if GD had been injured so severely to have his career ended what options would he have had? And would the SEC have handled this differently?

 

How is this any different than a guy tackling someone low and ending his career with a torn ACL?

Truth is, when it comes down to it it was a 15 yard penalty type shot. Not to mention they didnt call a penalty anyways. The only reason people treat this differently is because of the player involved and how this cheap shot is viewed by the public (Back of lineman = #1 no no). Their are at least 6-7 cheap shots in games that can end careers. Im not saying it wasnt completely awful but it is kind of getting blown out of proportion.

 

Because civil lawsuits are intended to compensate the injured plaintiff for injuries suffered. As such, there is really no place for a lawsuit as a preventitive/protective measure, unless you want him to seek a restraining order preventing opposing linemen from coming within 100 yards of him.

Had he had his knee blown out or suffered some other injury that caused him a loss of future earnings, he could then consider a lawsuit against any and all parties involved (opposing player(s), opposing school, opposing coach(es), NCAA, SEC, even LSU). It would be a tough one to win, however. The action that caused the injury would have to have been really really outrageous and/or other parties would have to be shown to have allowed a consistent pattern of allowing/enabling such egregious behavior.

 

While I agree that a flag clearly should have been thrown, throwing a flag after the fact would not have prevented the injury. There is already a rule against "posted" chop blocks and yet the play still occurred. What more could have been done by the SEC / NCAA to prevent the play from happening ? There are criminal laws all over the place yet crimes occur on a regular basis. People do stupid things regardless of what laws and rules we have, thats part of life. All I can say is these two freshman better be happy that Glen is a senior and AU and LSU will not meet again this year. However, I'm sure Glen's teammates won't soon forget that play.

 

The perverbial "pandora's box", note the instructions that state "do not open".

By some miracle if this came to fruition, the little thing known as statute would ruin the sport forever. Imagine how many lawsuits Steltz would rack up with his physical style :thumb: .

Lawyers/litigation never simplify anything (No offense PP). And that's putting it lightly. Just let karma do its thing.

Later,
Fur

 

In truth, athletic injuries, even ones which occur due to patently illegal acts, are usually exempt from tort law. It's all considered "part of the game" and that the athlete "assumes the risk" of certain kinds of injuries and certain acts, even if those acts are outside of the rules of the sport. The doctrine is called "assumption of the risk" and it is usually a complete bar to legal recovery. It's been litigated several times, always with the result of the defendant winning. Basically, the law assumes that players sometimes get really made and/or really frustrated about things that happen during play and refuse to hold anyone legally accountable for it. About the only way I can see a plaintiff winning that case is if a guy does something coldly, calculatedly outside of the normal expectations of the sport. One recent example was when that hockey player skated after someone and hit him from behind with a baseball-like swing of his hockey stick. That might have been a winnable lawsuit if the person had pursued it, and it might not have been.

Basically, Glen Dorsey's options if his career had been ended on that play would have been to get money from his own insurance policy and/or fall back on his education. It's harsh, but career-ending injuries happen with some regularity on the football field. Look at Tyrone Prothro. One play cost him a promising professional career before he was ever able to collect a dime on it. Granted, no one was particularly at fault for it, but it happens. It's what athletes risk when they go on the field.

 

Also from the NHL, Steve Moore's suit against Todd Bertuzzi is, I believe, still pending in a Canadian court. It was thrown out of a Colorado court for improper venue.

 

Summarizing the posts I'm reading so far seem to point in the direction of cultivating "Good Sportsmanship" between opposing teams. While my thread post was not necessarily aimed at GD suing a school or player but to bring the SEC more accountable to severe punishment to any player that exhibits dirty football tactics. I guess this is left up to the schools and conference to hash this out. I just wish the SEC would take a more proactive verbal response to what happen. Doing so makes a strong statement to all players and schools to not let this happen again. I sure would like to know CLM feelings about this. And of course how GD feels about it. Thanks for all the comments, it helps me better understand how the league deals with these issues and what the risks are for all players in live game situations. :thumb:

 

Not to minimize the GD issue in any way but this here is the poster child for why players need to have insurance and to show that bad chit happens outside the SEC too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSySFNv9xNE