Tonya L Sawyer
Biographic Data
| ID | 9620247 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tonya L Sawyer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tonya L |
| FAMILY NAME | Sawyer |
| SIGNATURE | SAWYER T L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hazen and Sawyer (United States) |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 31 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Concussion Protocol
The 17-year-old plaintiff filed a complaint claiming that her school coaches and trainers were negligent for allowing her to continue diving in a swim meet after hitting her head on a diving board and later being diagnosed with a concussion
Coach’s Duty of Reasonable Care
During a basketball practice, the coach (defendant) attempted to block a layup by a teammate. The ball struck another player (plaintiff), causing a concussion. The issue was whether the coach’s conduct breached her duty of reasonable care and whether the school corporation was liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior
Negligent Supervision — Control of Participants
After participating in an amateur hockey game, the plaintiff sued Midwest Training in Lake Superior Court, alleging Midwest Training committed negligence in failing to provide him with protection against third-party criminal attacks while he was on its premises
Participation Rights of Homeschooled Students and Students in Parochial Schools
Religious Rights Foundation of PA filed a complaint against the State College Area School District (SCASD) and the Board for denying extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities to students at parochial schools within the school district while extending them to home schooled and charter-schooled students
Facility Maintenance Negligence Issue
In this negligence action, the plaintiff sued for damages caused by the alleged negligent maintenance of the artificial turf and hidden dangers around the second base area after he suffered an injury while sliding into second base
Recklessness or Simple Negligence
A girls’ field hockey team coach instructed players to warm up in an area adjacent to the school’s turf field, where the boys’ soccer team was practicing. Plaintiff Morgan Dennehy, a member of the field hockey team, was struck at the base of her skull by an errant soccer ball. The plaintiff filed this suit against the coach, the school and others due to the defendants’ alleged failure to supervise and prevent potential and foreseeable dangerous c…
Premises Liability
During a game organized by a not-for-profit youth softball association in which adult coaches participated as players, the Plaintiff was injured when the first-base bag gave way under his foot. The Association filed a motion for summary judgment in which it maintained that it did not breach the duty of care owed to the Plaintiff
Assumption of Risk
One thing that veteran ballplayers and fans know, long before the opening pitch, is that there are dangers on the base path. That is illustrated by this case of 13-year-old second baseman Tara Kelly, whose ankle was fractured when an opposing team's player slid into her as she made the tag
Golfers, Beware of Your Surroundings
In this case the Court upheld the age-old doctrine of assumption of risk, affirming the inherent dangers of teeing off in golf. Despite a nasty trip on a tree root, the golfer was not entitled to recover for his injuries due to the primary assumption of the risk doctrine. This case sets a precedent for understanding the potential hazards of the sport and reinforces the importance of personal responsibility on the greens and potentially beyond
Failing to Comply With the Rules
This case shows how important it is for all coaches, especially head coaches, to know and understand the rules of their sport. Not just the playing rules, but also administrative rules, which include rules on recruiting. Failure to follow the rules and procedures led the defendants in this case to be liable for negligent supervision
Negligent Supervision
Teaching physical education involves more than overseeing what happens on the field, court or in the swimming pool. Physical educators also need to control the locker room, where students hazing other students may be common practice at certain schools. This case is a good example of what happens when teachers and coaches fail to supervise athletes and students in the locker room
Conditioning in Unsafe Conditions
According to data from the University of North Carolina’s National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR), 12 football players died from heatstroke during football activities between 2017 to 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. In the 25-year period spanning 1996-2021, 68 football players have died from heat-related causes.In the case of Imani Bell (Plaintiff), she collapsed on Aug. 13, 2019, after running up th…
Student Self-Transport
A high school student caused an automobile accident while driving himself and other students to an extra-curricular activity in his family’s vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle was killed, and a passenger in the other vehicle was injured. The issue in this appeal is whether the student’s school may be held liable to the persons in the other vehicle on the ground that the school was negligent. The district court answered that question in the …
Coaches Can Pray on Their Own Privately — But Cannot Lead Student-Athletes in Prayer
This case involved a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington. The defendant at the end of each game would privately pray at the middle of the football field. The practice was soon joined voluntarily by the players and others. The school board’s attorney became concerned the practice would be seen as infringing on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment separating church and state. The board attempted to negotiate with the Defe…
Ice Rink Fall
According to the court records, on December 11, 2014, Diane Samuelsen (Plaintiff), a recreational ice-skater who had been taking ice-skating lessons at Wollman Rink for several years, fell on the ramp used to enter and exit the rink as she attempted to leave the rink following one of her lessons. She claims to have suffered traumatic brain injury and other injuries as a result of the fall
Sporting Event Participant Owes No Duty of Care to Protect Others From Inherent Risks of the Sport
Taking a swing at an issue of first impression, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled on a golf ball injury case and rejected the concept that a sporting event participant owes no duty of care to protect others from inherent risks of the sport in all situations. Instead, the five justices had adopted the view that summary judgment is appropriate in those cases where a sports participant is acting within the range of ordinary behavior and whatever injur…
Negligent and Reckless or Part of the Sport
This article examines a case in which an individual was injured during a karate drill and claims negligence and recklessness and proximately caused her serious bodily injury during a karate practice session
Transgender Athletes
B.P.J. (Plaintiff) is an 11-year-old girl who will start middle school this fall. While in elementary school, B.P.J. participated on a cheerleading team. She enjoyed the camaraderie of practicing, playing, and competing alongside a team comprised entirely of girls. This fall, B.P.J. wants to continue playing sports in middle school by participating on the girls’ cross-country and track teams. B.P.J. comes from a family of runners, and she is exci…
Sex Discrimination Title IX
Court records indicated that, on April 19, 2007, Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint against Sweetwater alleging unlawful sex discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. They alleged that Sweetwater intentionally discriminated against female students at Castle Park High School (Castle Park) by unlawfully failing to provide female student athletes equal treatm…
Maintaining and Providing a Safe Playing Environment
This article explores a case involving a former NFL player who was injured when he slipped on concrete surrounding the field. The resultant injury to his knee ended his season
Equal Protection
Black students of Barbers Hill Independent School District wear their natural hair in locs as an outward expression of their Black identity and culture. When the students’ locs grew long, the district advised them that they would need to cut their locs to comply with the district’s hair length policy. Seeking to maintain their culturally significant hair styles, the students refused. Had the students been female, their hair would not have run afo…
Transgender Student-Athlete
This case looks at complex issues relating to the rights of student athletes, physiological differences between the sexes, an individual’s ability to challenge the gender of other student athletes, female athletes’ rights to medical privacy and to be free from potentially invasive sex identification procedures, and the rights of all students to have complete access to educational opportunities, programs, and activities available at school
Discrimination and Gender Equity
Pool Safety — Duty to Supervise
During the summer of 2014, 6-year-old Plaintiff attended a day camp held by the Justice Park District. On June 17, 2014, Plaintiff was one of the many campers that day, Plaintiff was discovered floating in the shallow end of the pool without any flotation device on his body. His face was under water and he was nonresponsive. Once Plaintiff was removed from the pool, CPR efforts began, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital. He later was pron…
Unsafe Playing Environments
This case arises from injuries sustained by the Plaintiff, then 11 years old, while playing in a little league baseball game. During the game, Plaintiff was struck in the head by a batted foul ball as he was inside his team’s first base line dugout. Plaintiff sustained serious injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, and continues to suffer from symptoms
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Class Action Suit Seeking Equal Rights for Female Swimmers
This case examines a class action suit brought by members of a high school swim team in Hawaii alleging several violations of Title IX
Constitutional Right or Privilege to Participate in Extracurricular Activities
This article looks at an age- and gender-discrimination case that was filed based on a high school soccer player who was cut from varsity and was deemed too old to play for the junior varsity team
Constitutionally Protected Free Speech
This case raises the question of whether a public school can lawfully remove a student from an extracurricular activity for her profanity, transmitted off school grounds on a Saturday to fellow students
Equal Protection Rights
This piece explores a case in which a student was forced to transfer schools because of his hair. The student is African-American and wears his hair in locks because it is part of Black culture and heritage and because he wants to emulate loved ones, including extended family members with West Indian roots, who have locks
Failure to Provide Protective Equipment and Adequate Supervision
Plaintiffs filed a February 2018 lawsuit in Black Hawk County District Court against Cedar Falls Schools and the softball team's coaches. The suit alleges negligence by the defendants when a teammate hit Victoria Platt in the head with a softball bat on June 8, 2016. The original filings in the lawsuit alleged a failure by the defendants to fulfill their duties of specific supervision (supervising athletes while they are engaged in the sports act…
Base Coach — Negligent Supervision
Plaintiff injured his ankle sliding into third base during a junior varsity baseball game. John Suk was the JV baseball coach for Bound Brook High School and was also acting as the third base coach during the game in which plaintiff was injured. Plaintiff filed suit alleging defendants "negligently" and "carelessly" supervised the JV baseball game
Maintaining and Providing a Safe Playing Environment
This article explores a case involving a former NFL player who was injured when he slipped on concrete surrounding the field. The resultant injury to his knee ended his season
Equal Protection
Black students of Barbers Hill Independent School District wear their natural hair in locs as an outward expression of their Black identity and culture. When the students’ locs grew long, the district advised them that they would need to cut their locs to comply with the district’s hair length policy. Seeking to maintain their culturally significant hair styles, the students refused. Had the students been female, their hair would not have run afo…
Transgender Student-Athlete
This case looks at complex issues relating to the rights of student athletes, physiological differences between the sexes, an individual’s ability to challenge the gender of other student athletes, female athletes’ rights to medical privacy and to be free from potentially invasive sex identification procedures, and the rights of all students to have complete access to educational opportunities, programs, and activities available at school
Discrimination and Gender Equity
Pool Safety — Duty to Supervise
During the summer of 2014, 6-year-old Plaintiff attended a day camp held by the Justice Park District. On June 17, 2014, Plaintiff was one of the many campers that day, Plaintiff was discovered floating in the shallow end of the pool without any flotation device on his body. His face was under water and he was nonresponsive. Once Plaintiff was removed from the pool, CPR efforts began, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital. He later was pron…
Unsafe Playing Environments
This case arises from injuries sustained by the Plaintiff, then 11 years old, while playing in a little league baseball game. During the game, Plaintiff was struck in the head by a batted foul ball as he was inside his team’s first base line dugout. Plaintiff sustained serious injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, and continues to suffer from symptoms
Conditioning in Unsafe Conditions
According to data from the University of North Carolina’s National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR), 12 football players died from heatstroke during football activities between 2017 to 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. In the 25-year period spanning 1996-2021, 68 football players have died from heat-related causes.In the case of Imani Bell (Plaintiff), she collapsed on Aug. 13, 2019, after running up th…
Student Self-Transport
A high school student caused an automobile accident while driving himself and other students to an extra-curricular activity in his family’s vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle was killed, and a passenger in the other vehicle was injured. The issue in this appeal is whether the student’s school may be held liable to the persons in the other vehicle on the ground that the school was negligent. The district court answered that question in the …
Coaches Can Pray on Their Own Privately — But Cannot Lead Student-Athletes in Prayer
This case involved a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington. The defendant at the end of each game would privately pray at the middle of the football field. The practice was soon joined voluntarily by the players and others. The school board’s attorney became concerned the practice would be seen as infringing on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment separating church and state. The board attempted to negotiate with the Defe…
Ice Rink Fall
According to the court records, on December 11, 2014, Diane Samuelsen (Plaintiff), a recreational ice-skater who had been taking ice-skating lessons at Wollman Rink for several years, fell on the ramp used to enter and exit the rink as she attempted to leave the rink following one of her lessons. She claims to have suffered traumatic brain injury and other injuries as a result of the fall
Sporting Event Participant Owes No Duty of Care to Protect Others From Inherent Risks of the Sport
Taking a swing at an issue of first impression, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled on a golf ball injury case and rejected the concept that a sporting event participant owes no duty of care to protect others from inherent risks of the sport in all situations. Instead, the five justices had adopted the view that summary judgment is appropriate in those cases where a sports participant is acting within the range of ordinary behavior and whatever injur…
Negligent and Reckless or Part of the Sport
This article examines a case in which an individual was injured during a karate drill and claims negligence and recklessness and proximately caused her serious bodily injury during a karate practice session
Transgender Athletes
B.P.J. (Plaintiff) is an 11-year-old girl who will start middle school this fall. While in elementary school, B.P.J. participated on a cheerleading team. She enjoyed the camaraderie of practicing, playing, and competing alongside a team comprised entirely of girls. This fall, B.P.J. wants to continue playing sports in middle school by participating on the girls’ cross-country and track teams. B.P.J. comes from a family of runners, and she is exci…
Sex Discrimination Title IX
Court records indicated that, on April 19, 2007, Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint against Sweetwater alleging unlawful sex discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. They alleged that Sweetwater intentionally discriminated against female students at Castle Park High School (Castle Park) by unlawfully failing to provide female student athletes equal treatm…
Facility Maintenance Negligence Issue
In this negligence action, the plaintiff sued for damages caused by the alleged negligent maintenance of the artificial turf and hidden dangers around the second base area after he suffered an injury while sliding into second base
Recklessness or Simple Negligence
A girls’ field hockey team coach instructed players to warm up in an area adjacent to the school’s turf field, where the boys’ soccer team was practicing. Plaintiff Morgan Dennehy, a member of the field hockey team, was struck at the base of her skull by an errant soccer ball. The plaintiff filed this suit against the coach, the school and others due to the defendants’ alleged failure to supervise and prevent potential and foreseeable dangerous c…
Premises Liability
During a game organized by a not-for-profit youth softball association in which adult coaches participated as players, the Plaintiff was injured when the first-base bag gave way under his foot. The Association filed a motion for summary judgment in which it maintained that it did not breach the duty of care owed to the Plaintiff
Assumption of Risk
One thing that veteran ballplayers and fans know, long before the opening pitch, is that there are dangers on the base path. That is illustrated by this case of 13-year-old second baseman Tara Kelly, whose ankle was fractured when an opposing team's player slid into her as she made the tag
Golfers, Beware of Your Surroundings
In this case the Court upheld the age-old doctrine of assumption of risk, affirming the inherent dangers of teeing off in golf. Despite a nasty trip on a tree root, the golfer was not entitled to recover for his injuries due to the primary assumption of the risk doctrine. This case sets a precedent for understanding the potential hazards of the sport and reinforces the importance of personal responsibility on the greens and potentially beyond
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