The Athlete's Lawyer

In the case of Kahn v. East Side Union High School District (2002) 2002 Cal. App. Lexis 2204), a 14 year old high school freshman swimmer, was fearful of diving into the shallow portion of a pool, as she had not received any previous instructions on how to dive in competition. Furthermore, she had been allowed to swim the first leg in relay races where she could start in the pool and did not have to dive. Read the rest of this entry »

Rebekah Keat alleges she had a positive drug test due to supplements manufactured by a major product manufacturer according to her interview in Slowtwitch.

The 29-year-old filed a lawsuit against Hammer Nutrition in California, alleging her positive drug test in 2004 was caused by the use of the company’s supplements which were contaminated with the steroid precursor norandrostenedione. Despite an appeal hearing, where the Court Arbitration for Sport (CAS) accepted the result was due to supplement contamination, the Australian was suspended for two years by Triathlon Australia, Australia’s triathlon governing body. With the ban served, Keat returned to competition in 2007, winning Ironman Australia and earning a sixth-place finish at the Hawaii Ironman in October.
Keat said the legal action was part of the vindication process and not about the money. “The pain Read the rest of this entry »

A middle aged man went swimming with his family in upstate New York.  While swimming in the public pool, the plaintiff became physically distressed and struggled to remain afloat. The pool’s lifeguard was off duty and swimming.  The lifeguard did not notice this swimmer until he had sunk to the bottom of the pool, after which he could not be resuscitated.  The swimmer’s family alleged that the pool didn’t properly hire, supervise and train its lifeguards. The pool’s defense lawyers contended that the drowning was a result of a cardiac incident.  The jury found that the pool was liable, that there was negligent hiring and awarded the family $500,000 in the case of Estate of Snipe v. Village of Ellenville

In a case handled by Doug Landau, a goalie for an adult embassy soccer club was kicked in the face and had his jaw broken by an opposing player. While injuries during contact sports are not unusual, what made this case different is the fact that the offensive forward who struck the keeper did so after the goalie had possession of the ball AND he was not a member of the opposing team or even the league. In other words, as Reston Herndon sports injury lawyer Doug Landau told the Court, “The Winger was a “Ringer.”

At the beginning of the match, the referees had simply counted the player cards and the bodies on the field. They failed to match the league issued ID cards to the faces on the pitch. So, the opposing team was able to bring a “hit man” on to the field in order to injure and “take out” players from the Abrams Landau client’s side with impunity. Knowing this, the Defendant soccer player ran right at the goalie in possession inside the box and kicked him in the head. This “Ringer” could not be fined, suspended or kicked out of the league, because he was not a member to begin with !

If you or someone you know has been injured due to the illegal or reckless conduct of someone at a sports event or during competition, call a member of the Abrams Landau team. There are strict time deadlines, and meritorious cases can be lost because too my time has passed. For example, while most personal injury cases in Virginia have a 2 year time period in which to be filed in court, intentionally caused injuries may only have half that amount of time. So, filing an intentionally caused sports injury case 18 months after the incident may be too late.

We have previously written about the dangers posed to children from pool drains.  In this post we note that according to Minnesota Public Radio, a Minneapolis Golf Club has reached an $8 million settlement with the family of Abigail Taylor, a 6-year-old girl who was fatally injured by a swimming pool drain.  Taylor died of injuries she suffered in 2007 when she sat on the drain of the club’s wading pool. The powerful suction ripped out part of her intestinal tract.  She died in March at after undergoing triple organ transplant surgery shortly before Christmas.  The settlement exceeded the $6 million limit on the club’s insurance, so the members had to vote to get a $2 million bank loan to pay the difference. A majority of members approved the deal when the ballots were counted.

After Abigail died, her family was instrumental in persuading the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress to pass new pool safety laws that require entrapment-proof drain covers for new public pools.  The state law also requires daily physical inspections of drain covers and forces operators of pools that lack redundant suction outlets to put them in. Only single-family residential pools are exempt.  While we send our condolences to the Taylor family, it is important to note that their actions despite their loss will lead to the prevention of future deaths and horrific injuries.  At Abrams Landau, Ltd. we have been fortunate enough to have clients who have thought and acted to protect others from being harmed in the same way that they were injured.

Tainted supplements have been proven in court to have tripped up elite athletes in doping tests. Swimmer Kicker Vencill in 2005 won a legal judgment against a company that provided him with multivitamins contaminated with steroid precursors that resulted in a positive dope test and two-year ban from the sport. The process of clearing his name took two and a half years according to the Seattle Times.

Vencill sued the manufacturer, Ultimate Nutrition of Farmington, Conn., after having his own, independent tests done on the supplements. Vencill received a judgment of $578,000 in May, 2005, but his suspension from swimming was never reduced nor set aside, and he missed a shot at the 2004 Athens Olympics while adjudicating the matter.

Under U.S. and international doping rules, Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2004, the USAT has recorded 26 triathlon fatalities; 21 of these died during the swim.

But what makes the triathlon deaths more mysterious is that they all occurred during the first part of the race. Deaths during marathons tend to be more evenly distributed over the course of the 26.2 miles, with the largest grouping in the last mile, said Dr. William Roberts, a professor of family medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the medical director of the Twin Cities Marathon, who has studied marathon deaths in the United States.

According to the July 31st, 2008 New York Times article, “Despite these similarities, a precise cause of death remains elusive in many cases. News reports suggest that at least three of this year’s deaths were linked to heart problems, but it is unclear whether those problems were primed to happen imminently or may not have happened until later without the race as a trigger.

No one knows why deaths are more common during the swim portion of triathlons, but researchers have some intriguing theories. Read the rest of this entry »

While I have been asked for training tips and race recommendations, a recent call from a sports reporter stopped me in my tracks.  This young woman was investigating triathlon fatalities.  As reported in the October 2008 edition of Inside Triathlon, 3 triathletes died in three separate races in July.  This brings the number of race-related deaths up to 8 since January.

While this seems like a large number, considering there are over 100,000 members of USAT, it is actually a very, very small number.  This is especially true as there are many thousands of “race day” licnensees that bump up the hundred thousand member number up considerably.  While the incidence of deaths in the sport are being investigated, thorough, annual pre-season physicals with a sports medicine doctor can help identify health concerns and potentially avoid race day difficulties.

In my own experience helping injured people, we have had only one major race injury case and one bike tour crash.  All of the other cases at the Herndon Reston area injury law firm ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., have occurred during training rides, runs, swims or strength training.  Most race directors arrange for closed, safe courses, staffed by volunteers and backed up with police and signs.  So it comes as no surprise that more injuries and fatalities would arise during training, especially since much more time is spent preparing for races than in actual competition.

The 2008 Virginia Triathlon Series (“VTS”) ended for me on Saturday with the Smith Mountain Lake, Big Lick Olympic Distance Triathlon.  While I did not “seize up” and walk, as I had the last to races I completed, this was a tough, painful and slow event for me.  Having done a 2:19 last year, and placed in my age group in prior years, my 4th place in the age group and 2:27 finishing time after a very light 2 weeks of training where disappointing.  For the 3rd week in a row, when I hopped of my bicycle and started the run, the muscles in my legs would not listen to what my brain was telling them to do.  I was only able to manage a 7:12/mile pace with a corresponding heart rate of 158-166 bpm.  Only one person successfully passed me on the bike and run, but to be competitive in my category, you have to break 2:20 for the Olympic Distance.   I hope to compete in some fall 5-10km. road and cross country races before taking my annual “winter hiatus” to let my body completely recover and get ready for next year’s challenge’s.  Rest and recovery are as important as an aggressive training schedule, and cyclical training plans can have beneficial, long-term results if exercise, nutrition and rest are properly balanced.  Here I am with my wife after we both completed this tough, Olympic distance triathlon.

One of the season highlights for this TriathlonTrialLawyer is the Big Lick Olympic Distance Triathlon at Smith Mountain Lake in Huddleston, Virginia. This race is also where the Virginia college teams vie for bragging rights on a course that takes place in an award-winning state park. Virginia Tech, James Madison University, UVa and other schools sent teams and there were also numerous relays in this year’s race. The “Big Lick” is one of the last events in the Virginia Triathlon Series, and one of the few competitions where Doug Landau is likely NOT to miss the starting gun ! When the Herndon Reston area injury lawyer is able to stay in a cabin just several hundred yards from the staging area INSIDE the park, he is able to be on time. The course takes place in the pristine, man-made Smith Mountain Lake (not to be confused with nearby “Mountain Lake,” where the movie “Dirty Dancing” was filmed). The bike course is inside the park and then over mostly smoothly paved roads over the surrounding hills. The run is very safe, hilly and completely inside the park.

[Photo, L->R: Rob Colburn, "Kona Kevin" Kunkel, Melissa Landau & Mary Delaney of "Rehab to Racing" putting on their wetsuits in the transition area before the start of the race.]