Incident at ULHS results in $250,000 decision
LAKEPORT — A jury has rendered a $250,000 judgment against the Upper Lake Union High School District for injuries suffered by a 13-year-old ULHS male student four years ago. The case was heard by Judge Stephen O. Hedstrom in the Clearlake Superior Court annex.
The student, Justin Sallinen, suffered both a fractured femur and a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee while he was a freshman with the ULHS football team.
Settlement of the suit and the award to Sallinen turned on the sequence of injuries, said Lakeport attorney Tibor Major, who represented the youth.
Major successfully argued that the torn ACL didn”t occur on the football field but in the locker room, where coaches had forgotten Sallinen.
“This case was different because this kid was screwed up in the locker room,” Major said. “In order to sue there has to be something other than just what happens on a football field.”
Otherwise, under the terms of the insurance coverage carried by most high schools, Major claims, the amount a player who is injured while participating in high school football will receive is limited.
If ULHS had won the Sallinen case, its insurance carrier would have had to cover medical expenses up to only $3,000, Major said. “That”s it, the school has no additional coverage.”
Patrick Iaccino, Upper Lake”s newly appointed district superintendent who is in the process of moving here from Southern California, said, “I don”t know all the details, because I only spent one day in court. I know that Mike Ewing represented the district.”
But he added, “I”ve been in school districts that have had similar types of situations where athletes were hurt … I coached for 10 years as well. The parents of most of the athletes I”ve dealt with carry insurance. For a while schools were offering additional insurance just for football and 99 percent of the parents never took it.”
As attorney for the ULHS District, Ewing argued that both of Sallinen”s injuries occurred when he was tackled, according to Major. But Sallinen”s testimony regarding what happened after his knee was shattered, and testimony by Ukiah physician Dr. Thomas Kilkenny, who performed surgery on the knee, Major added, convinced the jury that the fractured femur and ACL tear occurred separately.
“The only way you could really know for sure is if you had an MRI machine right there,” Major said.
A spokesperson for Ewing & Associates of Lakeport said the law firm would not comment on the case.
According to a court document, Sallinen sustained the knee injury when he was tackled while carrying the ball at a Sept. 18, 2002, practice. He was carried off the field by teammates and coaches who examined the knee and gave him ice.
When practice concluded, teammates reportedly helped Sallinen into the ULHS locker room and helped him remove his pads, the document continued. He then was able to change into street clothes.
But when Sallinen was ready to leave he found himself all alone. There was no response when he called for help, the court document said, and he “soon realized that everyone, including his coaches, Mr. Scott Conrad and Mr. Joe Ogulin, had all gone home.”
Said Major, “The coaching staff made a mistake; they were distracted. There were too many things going on. But I have to say that the coaching staff was very honest and straightforward afterward. They admitted that they had made a mistake. We all make mistakes.”
After learning no one was present to assist him, Sallinen testified that he attempted to reach the nearest telephone, which was 50 yards away at the other end of the Upper Lake gymnasium. But when he started to limp toward the far end of the gym, he testified that he heard his knee snap and could not walk at all. After he finally made it to the other side of the gym, a teammate heard him shouting, opened the door and helped him to a pay phone.
Four years later, Major said that Sallinen is still undergoing surgery on his knee and that to date his parents have already spent more than $50,000 in three surgical procedures, with a fourth surgery imminent.
A torn ACL, Major added, is a difficult injury to treat because it has to be replaced with a ligament out of a cadaver.
“The injury got worse because it wasn”t treated right away,” Major said.
The bouts with surgery also have taken their toll on Justin Sallinen”s academic progress, said Major. Now living with his father in Shasta County, Justin should have graduated last semester. “But he lost a lot of time,” Major said.
Contact John Lindblom at jlwordsmith@mchsi.com.
