A student, who was rushed to hospital after collapsing mid-way through a game of high school American football, has been awarded 4.4 million dollars for traumatic brain injury compensation in an out of court settlement.
Scott Eveland was just eighteen years of age when, on 14th September 2007, he collapsed by the side of the field on which he was playing as linebacker for the Mission Hills High School Grizzlies. Scott was rushed to hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery to stop internal bleeding around his brain and, due to his injuries, is now confined to a wheelchair – only able to communicate through an adapted iPad.
Scott made a claim for traumatic brain injury compensation through his mother – Diana – alleging that he had been missing practice due to persistent headaches in the weeks leading up to his collapse, and had asked to sit out of the game in which he collapsed only moments before it had started due to him feeling unwell.
His injury compensation claim was supported by a teammate, who confirmed that the head coach of the American football team had ignored signs that Scott was in distress and forced him to play on. His teammate also testified in a deposition that just one week before the game, Scott had reported that he was suffering from frequent headaches to the team´s athletic trainer.
The agreement of traumatic brain injury compensation was made without court action, but also without admission of liability by the San Marcos Unified School District or Mission Hills High School.