See also "Suit says district liable for athlete's brain injury."
More on Scotty Eveland case.
Eveland case appears at standstill
J. Harry Jones
UT
Feb. 26, 2012
SAN MARCOS — More than a month ago the long-awaited civil trial pitting a severely injured high school football player against the San Marcos Unified School District was to begin four years after the incident that left Scott Eveland catastrophically disabled.
But the day before jury selection was to start for a trial expected to last at least three months, everything ground to a halt. The case has been indefinitely “trailing” ever since, according to court officials, and the lawyers involved aren’t talking.
This week another unofficial teleconference is scheduled but whether the talks will produce a settlement is unknown because of the silence of attorneys.
Neither Dave Casey Jr., Eveland’s lawyer, nor Daniel Shinoff, who represents the district, returned calls Friday. On Jan. 12, almost a dozen lawyers met in Vista Superior Court Judge Thomas Nugent’s chambers and later filed out of the courtroom saying only that they couldn’t say anything.
If the case eventually does go to trial, Eveland’s lawyers will try to prove that Eveland, then 17, was forced to play in a game even though he was complaining of headaches and blurred vision. He collapsed during the second quarter, having suffered bleeding in the brain. His life was saved in surgery, but his body has been crippled.
Lawyers for the district say coaches and others had no idea he was experiencing symptoms of a head injury before the game and that the tragic accident was the result of a single blow to the head while playing an inherently violent game.
Eveland’s case rests mostly on the expected testimony of three witnesses whom the district’s lawyers have said in court papers they will try to discredit during the proceedings.
The case has been closely followed around the country and would be televised on the Courtroom View Network, a pay-per-view website.
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