ANDREW W. KOFFMAN, AN INFANT BY HIS FATHER AND NEXT FRIEND, RICHARD KOFFMAN, ET AL. v. JAMES GARNETT, 265 Va. 12

Summary

The coach told the 13-year-old player to stand upright and motionless so that the coach could explain the proper tackling technique to the team. The coach then thrust his arms around the player, lifted him up, and slammed him to the ground. The player suffered a broken arm. The trial court's ruling was based on a finding that the instruction of football was inherently dangerous. The appellate court held that the coach's knowledge of his greater size and experience, his instructions, the force he used, and his prior practice of not personally using force to teach football technique could have allowed a reasonable person to find that the coach acted in utter disregard for the player's safety and allowed the gross negligence claim to go to a jury. The battery claim also presented a jury issue. Although the coach alleged that, by playing football, the player consented to being tackled, whether he consented to being tackled in the manner alleged was a fact issue. The pleadings, however, did...