Football Injury constitutes Accidental Injury
A professional football player filed a workers comp claim requesting temporary partial disability benefits. The commission awarded the benefits and the employer appealed. This case is The Washington Redskins v. Tupa, 2012 WL 3588820.
Tupa entered into a four-year National Football League (NFL) employment contract in 2004. The Washington Redskins franchise is incorporated in Maryland and owns it stadium located in Maryland. The team also has its headquarters and practice facility in Virginia. The employment contract between Tupa and the football team declared that for all purposes, the contract would be deemed to have been negotiated and executed in Virginia.
In 2005, Tupa was injured when he landed awkwardly after a punt and felt a sharp pain in his lower back. The doctor concluded that Tupa had significant discogenic pain and was not able to continue playing professional football. In 2006, Tupa filed a claim for workers compensation benefits with Maryland. The employer challenged Tupa's claim on the issues of jurisdiction and whether the injury was accidental and related to Tupa's work. The workers comp commission granted Tupa the benefits, the trial court agreed after the employer filed a lawsuit, and this appeal followed.
The court of appeals of Maryland said two questions were presented to it: whether Maryland had jurisdiction over the workers comp claim; and, whether the claimant sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment.
The court reviewed the Maryland WC statutes and said that, in plain and unambiguous language, the statute precludes an agreement that exempts an employer from the duty of paying WC benefits that are otherwise due under the law. The statute also precludes an agreement that waives the right of an employee to receive WC benefits that are otherwise due under the state law. There was nothing in the statutes that forbade forum selection and so, the contract between Tupa and the football team requiring Virginia jurisdiction was ineffective to divest the WC commission in Maryland of the ability to exercise jurisdiction over the claim. The court also noted that numerous cases in other states have refused to give effect to forum selection clauses in workers compensation cases.
As for the question of whether Tupa's injury was accidental and arising from his employment, the court rejected the notion that an accidental injury must arise from an unusual or unexpected occurrence. Reviewing statutory language and earlier WC cases, the court held that what must be unexpected, unintended, or unusual is the resulting injury and not the activity out of which the injury arises. Moreover, the court referred to a 2 Larson's Workers Compensation comment to the effect that it was a conspicuously wrong idea that football injuries are considered accidental just because football is a dangerous sport fraught with the expectation of injury. Larson pointed out that in almost all states in which the NFL operates, injuries occurring during practice or the game are routinely treated as compensable. Denying WC benefits to professional football players effectively denies a class of covered employees compensation for doing precisely the job they were hired to do.
The court found that Tupa's injury occurred out of and in the course of his employment. He was warming up for a game when he landed awkwardly and thereafter sought immediate medical treatment. Ample evidence was presented to show that Tupa suffered a compensable accidental injury during the course of his employment.
The decision of the trial court was affirmed.
Editor's Note: This decision of the Court of Appeals of Maryland points out that state law supersedes contractual language. Maryland WC law allowed Tupa to forum shop and his contract with the team requiring Virginia jurisdiction was held to be ineffective.
As for an injury suffered while playing professional football, the court noted that, to say football injuries are not accidental because of the probability of injury is no more than to say that any activity with a high risk factor should be ruled noncompensable. To hold such injuries as not compensable under WC would in effect say that the player (the employee) intended to get himself injured. To the court, this thinking was preposterous.