No-Duty Rule Applied to Football Related Head Injury Claims

In the case of Schretzman v. NCAA, Nol 2883 EDA 2024 (Pa. Super. Sept. 16, 2026 Lane, J.) (Op. by Lane, J.), the court applied the no-duty negligence rule under Pennsylvania law to a claim by a Plaintiff alleging injuries from repeated football-related head injuries.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff was a former member of the West Point College football team. He was diagnosed with ALS.

The Plaintiff sued the NCAA under an allegation that the NCAA allegedly failed to warn him of the risks associated with repeated football-related head injuries.

The Superior Court affirmed the trial court’s entry of the NCAA’s Motion for a Compulsory Nonsuit.

The Superior Court noted that it was “bound under Pennsylvania’s no-duty negligence rule to hold the NCAA did not owe a duty of care to warn college player that repeated head injuries, in the support of football, may cause, decades later, latent neurogenerative disease, including [ALS].”

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


Source: The Pa. Super. Blog by Jon Bruno of Bruno Litigation, LLC, in Pittsburgh, PA.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Holds That Exculpatory Release Invalid as to Claims of Gross Negligence and Recklessness

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Pennsylvania Superior Court’s decision and ruled in the case of Feleccia v. Lackawanna College, 75 MAP 2017 (Pa. Aug. 20, 2019)(Op. by Dougherty, J.)(Wecht, J., Concurring and Dissenting)(Saylor, J., Concurring and Dissenting), that a waiver of liability in a release form is unenforceable with regards to claims of gross negligence and recklessness.

The case arose out of injuries sustained by two university football players during practice.

More specific to the facts at hand before it, the Court held that a university had a special relationship with its student athletes such that the university "had a duty to provide duly licensed athletic trainers for the purpose of rendering treatment to its student athletes participating in athletic events."

The Majority Opinion by Justice can be viewed HERE

Justice Wecht's Concurring and Dissenting Opinion can be viewed at this LINK.

Chief Justice Saylor's Concurring and Dissenting Opinion can be viewed HERE.


I send thanks to Attorney Paul Oven of the Moosic, PA office of the law firm of Dougherty, Leventhal & Price for bringing this case to my attention.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Agrees to Address Issue of Duty of Care Owed to College Athletes

According to an article in today's Legal Intelligencer by Max Mitchell, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an Order on November 29, 2017 agreeing to hear an appeal in the case of Feleccia v. Lackawanna College, No. 359 MAL 2017 (Pa. 2017), which involved the issue of what standards colleges have to adhere to in order to meet their duty of care towards student-athletes engaged in college sports.

The Feleccia case arose out injuries to two college students at a pre-season football practice. 

At the trial court level in Lackawanna County, Judge James A. Gibbons ruled on a motion for summary judgment that waivers of liability executed by the athletes barred their recovery.  The trial court also ruled that the student-athletes had assumed the risk of their own injuries in playing college football.  Here is a LINK to the Tort Talk post on the trial court decision.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed after finding that issues of fact precluded the entry of summary judgment.  The Tort Talk post on that decision can be viewed HERE

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted that the more specific issues presented by the case involved whether colleges are required to have medical personnel on hand at athletic events, and whether clauses releasing the school from any and all liability is enforceable.

The Supreme Court's Order granting the appeal and stating the issue can be viewed HERE.

Source:  "Justices Take Up Case on Colleges' Duty of Care to Student-Athletes," by Max Mitchell of the Legal Intelligencer (Dec. 5, 2017).