The trial is scheduled to be webcast live on Courtroom View Network, a pay website that caters to attorneys and law schools across the country. A spokesman for the network said it chose the Eveland trial because it will feature “top-tier litigators and extensive expert witness testimony, which along with significant outside interest makes it a great candidate for electronic coverage.”
See also: Dan Shinoff's motion for gag order in Scott Eveland case is denied
Suit says district liable for athlete's brain injury
J. Harry Jones
Jan. 3, 2012
U-T
SAN MARCOS — On the second play of the second quarter of a high-school football game more than four years ago, Mission Hills High linebacker Scott Eveland limped off the field and collapsed on the sideline.
The 17-year-old’s life would be saved in surgery many hours later, but it would be a life greatly altered.
Now, a Vista Superior Court jury will be asked to determine why Eveland suffered a catastrophic brain injury that night in September 2007.
More to the point, they will be asked to decide if employees of the San Marcos Unified School District bear the brunt of responsibility.
Barring a last-minute settlement, the trial is scheduled to begin Friday and could last eight to 14 weeks. According to court documents, Eveland’s lawyers will ask the jury for roughly $25 million, which is what they say is needed to provide the expensive, 24-hour-a-day care Eveland will need the rest of his life.
Eveland suffered a subdural hematoma — bleeding in the brain. His mind is active, but his is body crippled. He can type out responses to some questions on a keyboard but can barely speak. He’s made some progress physically, but his mobility is very limited.
“He’s going to be severely disabled for the rest of his life,” said his mother, Diane Luth. “But you know what? That kid is motivated. He’s working hard. … He’s doing what he can to get the connection back. He hasn’t given up.”
Eveland will be brought into court in a wheelchair during the trial but will not testify, his attorney said.
Football head injuries have become a hot legal and health topic nationwide in the past few years, with far more attention being paid to signs of concussion because of the long-term effects such incidents can cause.
The trial is scheduled to be webcast live on Courtroom View Network, a pay website that caters to attorneys and law schools across the country. A spokesman for the network said it chose the Eveland trial because it will feature “top-tier litigators and extensive expert witness testimony, which along with significant outside interest makes it a great candidate for electronic coverage.”
Eveland’s lawyers maintain that during the days before the game, Eveland was experiencing worsening headaches. Just minutes before the game, they will argue, Eveland went to the team’s athletic trainer and told him his headache was so bad, his eyes couldn’t focus. They will say that he asked to be held out of the game for at least the first quarter and that the trainer, Scott Gommel, then went to Coach Chris Hauser with the information.
According to one witness, who was a student trainer at the time, Hauser was overheard telling Gommel “You aren’t a (expletive) doctor,” and something to the effect of “These are my players, and I’ll decide who plays and who doesn’t.”
Eveland started the game. Two other young witnesses are expected to testify that in the days after Eveland collapsed, Gommel told them that he had gone to Hauser and told him of Eveland’s health complaints but that the coach put Eveland in the game anyway.
Showing posts with label . Lichtman (Brad Lichtman). Show all posts
Showing posts with label . Lichtman (Brad Lichtman). Show all posts
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Sunday, January 16, 2011
2nd witness says Scotty Eveland complained of headaches before collapse
See related case:
What happens when a coach tries to protect a student's health? the Coach James Ted Carter case
Sept. 2011: Attorney Dan Shinoff's request for gag order in Eveland case is denied
Kids are taught to do what coaches and teachers want without question.
Why? Because it's easier that way--for the adults. I think we'd have a
better-educated population if adults were willing to subject at least some of
their decisions to a critical-thinking process involving students. Sometimes adults are wrong, and there is no need for them to be ashamed of this fact. It's inevitable that adults will make mistakes.
What they should be ashamed of is covering up their mistakes and lying
about them. Of course school employees are told to keep quiet. Also,
school attorneys instruct witnesses not to answer questions during
depositions. I wonder how many times this happened during the 50
depositions in this case? It would be a lot easier for the courts to administer
justice if lawyers instructed their clients to tell the truth.
2nd witness says Scotty Eveland complained of headaches before collapse
By J. Harry Jones
SDUT
January 15, 2011
SAN MARCOS — A former student trainer has testified that a few days after Mission Hills High football player Scotty Eveland collapsed during a game in 2007, the school’s lead trainer confided that Eveland had asked to sit out because he was suffering from headaches and disorientation but was called in anyway by the head coach.
The account, given during a deposition completed Wednesday, corroborates testimony from another former student trainer who was deposed in October.
The San Marcos Unified School District has maintained that Eveland showed no sign of medical problems before the collapse. Scott Gommel, the lead trainer, said the same during his deposition four months ago. A judge has agreed to let lawyers for Eveland’s family redepose Gommel because of the new information.
Eveland has remained in a mostly vegetative state since his collapse. Doctors think he will need constant medical care that could cost millions of dollars over his lifetime.
Testimony from the two former student trainers is part of evidence collection in an ongoing lawsuit filed by Eveland’s family against the school district.
San Marcos Unified is confident it will “absolutely be vindicated” at trial, said Daniel Shinoff, a lawyer for the district. He also urged that facts be decided in a court of law and not in the court of public opinion.
Shinoff said it’s a complicated case “in terms of people’s perceptions, people’s recollection, and there’s a large passage of time.”
On Thursday, school officials denied a request to interview Gommel and the head football coach, Chris Hauser, who has not been deposed.
Robert Francavilla, an attorney for Eveland’s family, said the latest deposition confirms what really happened.
“Scotty lives every day with an injury that we believe could have been prevented,” Francavilla said.
Eveland’s parents, Diane Luth and stepfather Paul Luth, said they had no idea their son was experiencing headaches. They now devote themselves to caring for him.
Until Breanna Bingen’s deposition in September, there was no mention of Eveland having a health complication.
More than 50 depositions have been taken for the lawsuit — from doctors, paramedics and others connected to the football team or the game. Only Bingen and now Trevor Sattes have spoken about Eveland complaining of headaches, although one player testified that Eveland was acting disoriented during the game.
Until this fall, the family had focused their lawsuit against the maker of Eveland’s helmet and the question of whether Eveland was sent to the hospital in a timely manner. The information from Bingen and Sattes has changed the target dramatically, Francavilla said.
Bingen testified that she was one of several student trainers on the field the night of Eveland’s collapse. She recalled that he twice complained about headaches during the week before the game and sat out parts of two practices. She also remembered overhearing him tell Gommel a few minutes before the game about not being able to see the football because his head was killing him.
Eveland wanted to skip at least the first quarter in hopes that his head would feel better, Bingen testified, but Hauser disagreed and told Gommel, “you’re no doctor.”
Bingen, now a member of the Army National Guard, hasn’t been available for comment.
The person who corroborated her testimony was Sattes, now 21 and a college student studying to become a trainer. Sattes testified that he considered Gommel to be his mentor, and that he met with Gommel for lunch the Monday or Tuesday following Eveland’s collapse.
In a statement signed by Sattes and then confirmed during the deposition, Sattes said: “While eating lunch, I asked Mr. Gommel again what happened with Scotty. He told me he was going to explain what occurred in order to make me a better trainer. ... Mr. Gommel then stated that Scotty told him he did not feel well enough to play the first quarter and that Scotty did not feel like he should play. Mr. Gommel told me that he assessed Scotty’s condition and found him to be a little wobbly and having trouble focusing.
“Mr. Gommel then told me he went to Coach Hauser to discuss Scotty’s condition. ... Mr. Gommel said Coach Hauser made the decision to play Scotty.”
Through school officials, Hauser declined to comment for this story.
During her deposition, Bingen also testified that Principal Brad Lichtman, Gommel and an assistant football coach told her and others to not talk about the case with lawyers or the media. An attorney for the school district said that never happened, and Sattes didn’t address that issue in his deposition.
What happens when a coach tries to protect a student's health? the Coach James Ted Carter case
Sept. 2011: Attorney Dan Shinoff's request for gag order in Eveland case is denied
Kids are taught to do what coaches and teachers want without question.
Why? Because it's easier that way--for the adults. I think we'd have a
better-educated population if adults were willing to subject at least some of
their decisions to a critical-thinking process involving students. Sometimes adults are wrong, and there is no need for them to be ashamed of this fact. It's inevitable that adults will make mistakes.
What they should be ashamed of is covering up their mistakes and lying
about them. Of course school employees are told to keep quiet. Also,
school attorneys instruct witnesses not to answer questions during
depositions. I wonder how many times this happened during the 50
depositions in this case? It would be a lot easier for the courts to administer
justice if lawyers instructed their clients to tell the truth.
2nd witness says Scotty Eveland complained of headaches before collapse
By J. Harry Jones
SDUT
January 15, 2011
SAN MARCOS — A former student trainer has testified that a few days after Mission Hills High football player Scotty Eveland collapsed during a game in 2007, the school’s lead trainer confided that Eveland had asked to sit out because he was suffering from headaches and disorientation but was called in anyway by the head coach.
The account, given during a deposition completed Wednesday, corroborates testimony from another former student trainer who was deposed in October.
The San Marcos Unified School District has maintained that Eveland showed no sign of medical problems before the collapse. Scott Gommel, the lead trainer, said the same during his deposition four months ago. A judge has agreed to let lawyers for Eveland’s family redepose Gommel because of the new information.
Eveland has remained in a mostly vegetative state since his collapse. Doctors think he will need constant medical care that could cost millions of dollars over his lifetime.
Testimony from the two former student trainers is part of evidence collection in an ongoing lawsuit filed by Eveland’s family against the school district.
San Marcos Unified is confident it will “absolutely be vindicated” at trial, said Daniel Shinoff, a lawyer for the district. He also urged that facts be decided in a court of law and not in the court of public opinion.
Shinoff said it’s a complicated case “in terms of people’s perceptions, people’s recollection, and there’s a large passage of time.”
On Thursday, school officials denied a request to interview Gommel and the head football coach, Chris Hauser, who has not been deposed.
Robert Francavilla, an attorney for Eveland’s family, said the latest deposition confirms what really happened.
“Scotty lives every day with an injury that we believe could have been prevented,” Francavilla said.
Eveland’s parents, Diane Luth and stepfather Paul Luth, said they had no idea their son was experiencing headaches. They now devote themselves to caring for him.
Until Breanna Bingen’s deposition in September, there was no mention of Eveland having a health complication.
More than 50 depositions have been taken for the lawsuit — from doctors, paramedics and others connected to the football team or the game. Only Bingen and now Trevor Sattes have spoken about Eveland complaining of headaches, although one player testified that Eveland was acting disoriented during the game.
Until this fall, the family had focused their lawsuit against the maker of Eveland’s helmet and the question of whether Eveland was sent to the hospital in a timely manner. The information from Bingen and Sattes has changed the target dramatically, Francavilla said.
Bingen testified that she was one of several student trainers on the field the night of Eveland’s collapse. She recalled that he twice complained about headaches during the week before the game and sat out parts of two practices. She also remembered overhearing him tell Gommel a few minutes before the game about not being able to see the football because his head was killing him.
Eveland wanted to skip at least the first quarter in hopes that his head would feel better, Bingen testified, but Hauser disagreed and told Gommel, “you’re no doctor.”
Bingen, now a member of the Army National Guard, hasn’t been available for comment.
The person who corroborated her testimony was Sattes, now 21 and a college student studying to become a trainer. Sattes testified that he considered Gommel to be his mentor, and that he met with Gommel for lunch the Monday or Tuesday following Eveland’s collapse.
In a statement signed by Sattes and then confirmed during the deposition, Sattes said: “While eating lunch, I asked Mr. Gommel again what happened with Scotty. He told me he was going to explain what occurred in order to make me a better trainer. ... Mr. Gommel then stated that Scotty told him he did not feel well enough to play the first quarter and that Scotty did not feel like he should play. Mr. Gommel told me that he assessed Scotty’s condition and found him to be a little wobbly and having trouble focusing.
“Mr. Gommel then told me he went to Coach Hauser to discuss Scotty’s condition. ... Mr. Gommel said Coach Hauser made the decision to play Scotty.”
Through school officials, Hauser declined to comment for this story.
During her deposition, Bingen also testified that Principal Brad Lichtman, Gommel and an assistant football coach told her and others to not talk about the case with lawyers or the media. An attorney for the school district said that never happened, and Sattes didn’t address that issue in his deposition.
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