I just got served court papers on Monday afternoon. Some guy is suing me in excess of $5,000 claiming that I threw him and broke his collarbone during a demonstration about a year and a half ago. He's claiming negligence on my part.
His version of events is false as I never did throw him but I'm interested in any information any of you may have regarding this type of situation. Please contact me at dmjudo@yahoo.com
Agreed...sucky situation for sure. all this time later?? This guy's just looking for money.
Get a good lawer and take this guy apart. Remember, as the plaintiff, HE has the burden of proof, not you. He has to prove to the jury that you were negligent and the that your throw in fact caused the fracture (even if you did not throw him). Have any video of the seminar by chance? Was it a seminar run by you or were you guys both participants? Dude, a broken clavicle is painful! Was it broken at the time or is this totally out of left field? He must have signed a liability waiver anyway. Funny enough, I just got out of jury duty on a similar case. Negligence is not so easy to proove...especially in a situation where injury is a reasonable risk at the onset.
Looks like the USJA's insurance policy is going to defend me. Turns out the lawyer never forwarded copies of medical bills/wage histories.
I'm sure they are suing for well over 5 grand. 5,000 is just the threshold they need to be above to keep it out of small claims.
I don't know how they plan to show negligence. I never threw the guy at all. He fell on his shoulder doing easy matwork with me. I've got Swain mats mounted on tires so the floor is as good as you can get. It's just a freak accident if he even did break anything. He didn't sign a waiver though. That's probably what they are going on. Any reasonable person will think that Judo is an activity that carries risk of injury though.
lol, as he waited THIS long to even file anything its questionable if it will even make it to court. Usually you have a statute of limitations on these sorts of things. I'd countersue his ass for trying to tarnish your public image.