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Following a three-day jury trial in the Circuit Court of Carroll County, Maryland, Jon Cusson obtained a verdict in favor of the Board of Education. Plaintiff, a high school junior varsity lacrosse player, claimed that the Board was negligent because her coaches failed to prevent two of her teammates from throwing a ball in a school hallway. One of her teammates failed to catch the ball, which struck Plaintiff in the eye causing her to become legally blind in that eye.
At trial, Plaintiff and her expert witnesses claimed that it was negligent for the coaching staff to leave junior varsity women's lacrosse players unsupervised while the coaches assessed the condition of the field for play as a result of inclement weather. Plaintiff also maintained that the Carroll County Board of Education was obligated to have a policy that required supervision of student-athletes under these circumstances. Mr. Cusson presented evidence of the steps the Board takes to promote safety and successfully argued that this case did not involve any unreasonable act by the coaching staff; rather, this was simply an unfortunate accident that the Board, through its coaching staff, was not obligated to anticipate or prevent. In closing argument, Plaintiff's counsel asked the jury to award his client in excess of $150,000. The jury determined that the Board was not negligent and awarded no damages.
