Md. appeals court affirms youth soccer team not negligent in concussion injury

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A private youth soccer team, its associates and Baltimore County employees cannot be held liable for alleged negligence when a player sustained a concussion during practice, the Maryland Appellate Court ruled earlier this month.

The ruling comes at a time of increased focus on concussion injuries in sports, not only among professional athletes but for youths as well.

In a published opinion written by Senior Judge Deborah S. Eyler, the Maryland Appellate Court found that a 14-year-old soccer player and her parents did not establish a proximate cause between her injury and the team’s failure to provide information about concussions and head injuries in violation of what is known as the “statute or ordinance rule.”

In affirming the judgments of the Baltimore County Circuit Court, the appeals court determined that the teen and her parents did not provide evidence that “she would not have practiced with her team or would have altered her behavior during practice so as to avoid the injury,” or that her coach’s review of the head injury information would have caused him to modify the practice to prevent the injury.

The appellate court further reasoned in its opinion that there was no evidence cited that the teen or her parents “would have chosen not to allow her to participate in soccer, generally, or this soccer practice, specifically, had she and her parents received a basic fact sheet about concussions.”

In November 2019, Sydney Walton and her parents filed a complaint against Premier Soccer Club, the team’s coach, parents of one of Walton’s teammates and employees of the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks, alleging their negligence after Walton sustained a concussion during practice at a Baltimore County indoor recreational facility after hitting her head on a wall surrounding the field.

A jury for the trial court found none of the defendants were negligent, according to the opinion.

Robert Ferguson, Jr., co-counsel for Premier Soccer Club and its coach, said he is pleased with the outcome in the appellate court and thinks the ruling may clarify the statute or ordinance rule at issue in the case.

“I think that the particular facts of this case and the way the appellate arguments focused on this one particular issue really explained it a lot better and probably clarified the issue for future litigants who encounter it,” Ferguson said. “I thought the Maryland Appellate Court did a very good job addressing the various elements of that rule so that in the future, litigants who review that will have a better understanding of the rule.”

Timothy Dygert, also co-counsel for Premier Soccer Club and its coach, agreed the appeals court “got the issue right.”

“The appellate court opinion basically said there’s no evidence in the record that the violation of the statute, which was being cited by the plaintiffs, was a proximate cause of the injuries sustained by Ms. Walton,” Dygert said. “The appellate court correctly held that there was no evidence on the record that had Ms. Walton received this paperwork, she wouldn’t have played soccer, or she would have played soccer differently, or that her coach would have run the practice differently.”

Dygert said the court clarified that traditional proximate cause must be proven even if a plaintiff successfully satisfied the elements of the statute or ordinance rule.

Counsel for the parents of Walton’s teammate and counsel for the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks declined to comment. Counsel for Walton did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.