An injury sustained in an unsupervised drill at a Proctor football practice has the school district facing a lawsuit.
According to court documents, Cynthia Graves is suing the Proctor schools on behalf of her son, Mathew Graves, who suffered a broken leg in a workout on Oct. 22, 2008.
The plaintiffs, represented by attorney Robert Falsani of Duluth, claim Graves was injured during a "fight circle," described as a long-standing tradition with the Proctor football team. The school district, represented by attorney Larry Minton of Hibbing, contends the injury occurred during a tackling drill.
There's no disagreement about the injury itself: Graves, who is still a student at Proctor, suffered a broken femur requiring the placement of rods in his leg.
Judge Heather Sweetland on June 15 rejected the school district's motions to have the lawsuit thrown out on the basis of recreational and official immunity. The plaintiff "alleges the injury occurred due to negligent supervision, rising to the level of willful neglect, by the Proctor High School football coaches," Sweetland wrote.
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Sweetland set a jury trial for Oct. 26. But Proctor schools Superintendent John Engelking said the district will appeal Sweetland's immunity rulings, a process that's likely to take six to eight months. No trial can take place until that matter is resolved.
"Of course, we disagree with the judge's ruling," Engelking said on Saturday. "We think we are entitled to immunity."
The court documents include a letter from Proctor football coach Derek Parendo to parents and players of the team that acknowledge an activity took place without the coaches' knowledge. The letter doesn't include the term "fight circle."
"Upon questioning of the team members (we) determined that this activity, in which students of equal size and strength were participating, was a tackling activity prior to football practice," Parendo wrote. "Please note that we do not support this activity, and the dangers involved in any such unsupervised physical contact will be made known to the team.
"In the course of this investigation we found that some players and parents knew about this activity for quite some time; however, the coaches did not."
Sweetland wrote in her ruling that both sides agree the football coaches were in the locker room when the injury occurred. The school district argued it was a "discretionary function" of the coaches to stay in the locker room until all players were on the practice field. But the plaintiff argued the coaches "failed to perform a ministerial duty when they did not supervise the players despite prior knowledge of the 'fight circle' tradition."
Parendo could not be reached for comment. Nor could Cynthia Graves or the attorneys for either side.
It's not clear what a "fight circle" is. Dave Homstad, longtime athletic director of the Duluth Marshall School, said he had never heard of a football drill called "fight circle." On the other hand, there are "a million" tackling drills, he said. And although they are designed to minimize the risk of injuries, it's understood that injuries always are possible, in games or practices.
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"Football is a rough sport," Homstad said. "You could break a leg."
