Legal Aspects of Sport Reflection This course served as a brief overview of a few legal topics which intersect with

the sport industry. Since there is not a specific sector of the law which is entitled sport law, the course encompassed the following topics which most sport administrators should be aware: legal process, negligence, torts, contract law, constitutional protections, and intellectual property. Most of the topics we covered, I learned in the first week of law school, so my biggest takeaway from this course was something I already knew: if youre dealing with a legal matter, call a lawyer because they are more specialized in this knowledge than you are. You always consult legal counsel when there is an issue. You would not try to do surgery on yourself or someone else when they needed it, so do not make more of a mess of something and try to handle a legal matter on your own. Due to my prior experience, I have decided to take a different route for my reflection of this course. In the following paragraph, I will outline a law school takeaway from the subject matter coupled with a legal fun fact in that particular area of the law. Takeaway #1 - As far as jurisdictional rulings and precedential value, the United States Supreme Court trumps all. Its rulings are the supreme law of the land. Legal Fun Fact #1 - The Supreme Court Justices have a basketball court atop the U.S. Supreme Court building which they commonly refer to as the Highest Court of the Land. After debate on case decisions, they have been known to play pickup hoops. Even though they are some of the most brilliant legal minds in the country, they too love sport and probably fill out NCAA March Madness brackets along with the rest of us normal folks. If you wish to gain a little more insight into the Supreme Court and its inner-workings, read The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice by Sandra Day OConnor. Takeaway #2 - Negligence 101: the four elements required to prove negligence are (1) duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, (2) breach of that duty, (3) the breach was the actual and proximate cause of the plaintiffs injuries, and (4) the plaintiff was damaged as a result of the defendants breach. Legal Fun Fact #2 - One of the major cases examining negligence which resulted in creating the foreseeable zone of danger majority rule is Palsgraf v. Long Island Rail Road Co. In Palsgraf, a short of domino effect occurred which caused harm to the plaintiff; a passenger was carrying a package (which included fireworks), the conductor mishandled the package, it fell, exploded, and caused scales to fall and harm Palsgraf, who was a distant bystander. Because, the duty of care is only owed to foreseeable plaintiffs, the majority rule resulted requiring plaintiffs to be in the foreseeable zone of danger in order to recover from the defendant/the person causing the harm. Takeaway #3 - An extension of negligence is products liability, therefore, a manufacturer of a product can be held liable if the prima facie case is proven: a duty was owed to the foreseeable consumer, a breach of that duty occurred by negligent conduct which supplied a defective product, and the providers negligent conduct then caused the consumers harm. Legal Fun Fact #3 - One of the most misinterpreted cases of all time has to be Liebeck v. McDonalds, Inc. (i.e. the McDonalds hot coffee case). If you think suing due to spilled coffee is trivial, you need to listen to the facts of the case and not the medias spin on them.

McDonalds was placed on notice, by several hundreds of other customers who had been burned by the overly hot coffee, the spilled eight ounce cup of coffee caused Ms. Liebeck to be burned on 16% of her body (which consisted of third-degree burns), and Ms. Liebeck tried to settle the case with McDonalds several times, at one point simply asking for the coverage of her medical bills. For a complete summary of the facts of the case, please see https:// www.caoc.org/?pg=facts. Takeaway #4 - In order to have a legally binding contract, the following elements must be present: (1) offer, (2) acceptance, (3) consideration, and (4) mutual assent. Legal Fun Fact #4 - You cannot force an inebriated person into a legally binding contract. A defense used to attack the formation of a contract is the defense based upon the lack of capacity (i.e. the other person did not have the mental capacity to enter into a contract - insane or intoxicated persons). Takeaway #5 - Our constitutional protections are something which cannot be taken away from us if a state actor is involved. In order to determine if these protections apply, you apply the following test: (1) Is a state actor involved and (2) balance the right being violated. Legal Fun Fact #5 - One of my favorite things about case law is the reflection cases have of the time period. For my case evaluation in this course, I was assigned the Louisiana High School Athletic Association v. Saint Augustine High School, 396 F.2d 224; 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 7035. The actions of the athletic association occurred during the Civil Rights Movement in the State of Louisiana. The athletic association made an ex post facto requirement to membership which denied the admission of an all-black high school, Saint Augustine HS. After review, the United States Supreme Court deemed LHSAA a state actor by the courts for several reasons: (1) 85% of the member schools are public schools, (2) funding comes from state resources, (3) employees are considered state employees, (4) it enforces eligibility rules, forms contracts, etc. Additionally, the Court found the arbitrary vote used to deny SAHS membership violated the 14th Amendment because no other reasonable inference could be drawn from the evidence other than the denial was based solely upon racial grounds. As a result, a high school athletic association can make reasonable, non-discriminatory standards for granting membership, but membership cannot be denied to those schools who meet the already established standards. For a full review of the case, see my case brief and presentation in my works section of this website.