injured gymnastics coach awarded $25.5 million

5 comments ↓

#1 shergymrag on 12.19.09 at 3:52 pm

I had some questions too so I found a bit more info.

http://www.legalpad.com/2009/11/jury_awards_gymnastics_coach_25_million.html

He is saying he didn’t get a spot. I think he should have known to ask for one himself and to not go if he didn’t get what he needed to be safe.

#2 coach Rick on 12.19.09 at 6:34 pm

Thanks sher.

I’ll post a link to that Monday.

#3 wordsmith on 12.19.09 at 9:15 pm

Without knowing specific details, it’s difficult to make an informed opinion.

Take this as “unconfirmed hearsay”:

User Image
JaxGuy83 wrote:
From what I have learned, Mr. Downey was fired from that gym for failure to follow gym policies and for reckless endangerment in regards to how he trained students. His ex-wife worked there still which is why he was at the gym the night he was injured. Even his wife told him not to do the tumbling pass but he did anyways. He was arrogant and cocky and never listened to anyone, hence another reason he was fired. He had landed that same skill dozens of time without assistance. In the gymnastics field if a person can do a skill without assistance as often as he had done this skill, no one would spot them. There would be no need. When was the last time you saw a coach run out and spot an Olympic gymnast during their routine? Exactly………..never. It was also learned later that he had lied about his knowledge and training and was not in fact properly trained to do the skill in the first place, but had simply been lucky up to that point. The jury obviously paid no attention to the facts. He chose to do the skill, he lied to those there that night about his knowledge and ability to do the skill and he took the chance himself. In addition, he is not a quadriplegic, he is able to breathe on his own, move his arms, head neck and upper torso, there for he is a paraplegic. Hopefully the judge will toss the jury’s recommendation and award him nothing. He lied to the jury, he lied to the media during his interviews and he was awarded a sympathy verdict, plain and simple. If he had been walking and out of the wheelchair, he wouldn’t have been awarded anything.
11/13/2009 10:21 PM EST on firstcoastnews.com

Whatever happened, it’s difficult for me to believe that the gym was 100% at fault, with none of the responsibility or blame shared by Downey.

This provides more details:

“If they had said anything, he would not have been injured,” said Woodlief. “If they had told him to try a different jump, or to get off the Tumbl Track, he would not have been injured.”

This begs the question exactly how “accomplished”, in fact, was he? Having him try “a different jump” (anything carries with it, the risk of injury) makes it sound like he was attempting something challenging to his skill level.

The gymnastics move Downey was attempting on the day of his injury was a roundoff back handspring double-backflip, an enhanced form of a standard backflip, typically performed only by professionals.

According to the testimony of Downey, employees of the gym twice invited him out on to the Tumbl Track, a 25-foot long apparatus that is designed like a trampoline, to show others how to perform the move.

However, said Woodlief, “this is not a backyard trampoline.”

This is where I see the gym getting into liability trouble, if they had employees “inviting” a fired coach out onto the equipment. Was he enrolled in the class? Signed a waiver/release?

I once took the liability risk of letting Mitch Gaylord do a double back flip on the trampoline. We knew each other although not close friends, was a friend of the gym’s, and there at a children’s birthday party, to which his own kid was an invited guest. Should I have allowed that? Based on the litigious society we live in today, no. I probably should have been fired for poor judgment. Same as allowing a parent out onto the floor with their toddler, even if it’s to do nothing more than hold the child by the hand to let her try and walk on two feet…God what would happen should the ridiculous happen, and the Dad’s sock stick to a piece of velcro on the floor and he falls on his child?

What are the chances? A former Olympic gold medalist where a double back on tramp carries as much risk to it as a cheerleader doing cartwheels across the floor. But there is always the outside chance, whether it be equipment failure or an aged gymnast no longer knowing the reach of his limits.

The Tumbl Track is made of a trampoline-like material in order to provide added bounce and train gymnasts and cheerleaders to tumble and perform landings they could not do on the floor.

Well, that’s one way to characterize the use for the tumbletrak, and partisanly prejudiced toward one side.

While attempting the flip, Downey fell on the C5-C6 level of his cervical spine, just two vertebrae away from the base of his spinal cord. The impact of the fall crushed the spinal cord and he was paralyzed from the neck down.

According to Woodlief, Downey’s trauma surgeon described the impact as similar to someone diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool.

Duty to supervise

JC Sports, which owns the facility, argued that because Downey was an accomplished gymnast, employees of the gym were not obligated to prevent him from performing the flip.

But Woodlief countered that argument with USA Gymnastics safety literature, as well as the gym’s own policy and employee training.

How many gyms follow to the letter “T”, such guidelines, developed to avoid such litigation? If Charlie Tamayo walked in and asks to do nothing more than a standing back flip on your equipment, do you tell him no, take it outside on the hard concrete sidewalk? Or sign a release, first? Well, because of the society we live in, even Tamayo should sign the release form because whatever happens on your property, your potentially liable and he becomes part of your responsibility. Now even though he doesn’t ask for it, do you assign employees to go and stand there to spot him on a standing back flip?!?! Ridiculous lawsuits will make us go to ridiculous lengths not to get sued.

“[Downey] had gymnastics experience, but the evidence showed that the supervision doesn’t stop when someone has experience,” said Woodlief.

Woodlief said that the key testimony came from the gym’s supervisors and trainers who were present at the time of Downey’s accident. All testified that once they invited Downey on to the Tumbl Track, they were obligated to spot him during the routine. When they failed to spot him, they were supposed to prevent him performing the jump, Woodlief said.

“One of the coaches basically testified she made a mistake even inviting him out on to the floor,” said Woodlief.

Was this Downey’s ex-wife (as mentioned about by JaxGuy83)? Think this incident earned her being fired?

The defense also argued that Downey assumed the risk of completing the move on the Tumbl Track. But Woodlief contended that gymnastics is not a contact sport, and therefore the assumption of risk doctrine didn’t apply under Florida law.

I think that’s arguable, whether or not gymnastics is a “contact sport”.

After nearly two weeks of trial, the jury found JC Sports liable and 100 percent negligent for Downey’s injury. They awarded the plaintiff $25.5 million for past and future medical experiences and loss of earnings. No punitive damages were awarded in the case.

“The other side was very concerned about prejudice [by] the jurors,” said Woodlief. “That we were dealing with a quadriplegic who would elicit too much sympathy. I said we were just arguing that the gym had a duty to supervise and didn’t. The jury agreed.”

To what lengths does one need to go to, in terms of “supervision”? “Supervision” and “spotting” are not the same thing. I’m not going to physically spot someone on the round off or the backhandsprings that precede the final skill (be it, back tuck, layout, twist, double back, etc.); nor even the final skill if they have it “mastered”.

#4 ryantroop on 12.20.09 at 3:36 am

not to mention the slew of other coaches in the world who wont spot a thing.

Granted, in this case, it may not be gym policy to he “hands off,” but an argument can be made that since he had no individual coach, he was his own. He has the credentials (apparently), therefore he should be capable of making an “educated decision” based on his experience. He felt no need for a spot, therefore he did not ask for one.

Pure and simple, as sad as it is, he made a stupid choice, and suffered a serious consequence. Many people do, and many people have to suffer under those consequences.

On the other hand… as a coach… depending on whether or not I knew this guy, his attitude, and his development… had I been on the jury I may have awarded him a victory of some sort as well, but certainly not 100% liability on the part of the gym.

But… that’s life, and life is hard. Hopefully this will not foce the gym to close – what does the sympatheic jury have to say about all those coaches and the owners who would now be out of a job because their premiums will be astronomical.

#5 update – coach awarded $25.5 million — Gymnastics Coaching.com on 12.21.09 at 7:02 am

[...] shergymrag found more information on Florida coach Shane Downey who was paralyzed on a tumbltrak in 2000. [...]

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