Emmert will testify in wrongful death lawsuit
NCAA president Mark Emmert will be deposed Nov. 12 in Indianapolis in a lawsuit stemming from the death of a college football player.
Despite the objections of the NCAA, Emmert is a witness in the civil suit involving Derek Sheely, a Division III football player at Frostburg State who collapsed during an August 2011 practice and later died from a head injury. A Maryland circuit court judge in August granted the Sheely family’s motion to compel Emmert’s deposition.
Sheely’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August 2013 against the NCAA, two coaches and an athletic trainer from Frostburg State, and helmet manufacturer Schutt Sports. The suit alleges Sheely was pressured to return to practice despite needing medical attention four times over three days prior to his death. Lawyers are in the process of taking depositions.
In a court filing earlier this month, Sheely’s lawyers requested the following documents from the NCAA prior to Emmert’s deposition:
* All documents that relate to Sheely
* All documents that relate to a congressional inquiry regarding the NCAA’s obligation to protect college athletes
* All documents from member universities asking the national office to take the lead on implementing concussion policies
* All documents related to the NCAA’s defense that it does not have a legal duty to protect college athletes.
The plaintiffs have said they want Emmert’s testimony in part to discuss whether “the NCAA was capable of acting to protect against repetitive head trauma and second-impact syndrome, whether the NCAA formed an intention about how it would act, and how the NCAA went about carrying out its actions.” The NCAA argued Emmert is an “inappropriate witness” because he lacks the authority to impose rules on NCAA members.
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