High school soccer leads to civil suit

[proudpatriot]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN
History basics: High school soccer game. 2 players going after 50/50 ball colided. 15 yr old got broken orbit, cheek bone. 18 yr old(my child) got bump on head and severe headache. 15 y/o family had 18 y/o arrested for criminal assault saying he hit the 15y/o with fist. To keep from going to jury trial, 18 y/o did Pre-trial Diversion with 18 months probation, record now expunged.
15y/o is now 18 and has placed a civil suit against the now 21 y/o. Homeowners is providing attorney, but suit is for $200,000 and liability coverage is only $100,000. Should we get another attorney to help covered uninsured assets? Or since it is the 21y/o being sued can they even get any of parents assets?? Is it best to settle or go to trial and fight it hoping the jury sees these people for what they are? This family had sued multiple times and been paid off. They sued the school system and was paid off $5000. Now have come after us.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by proudpatriot

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN
History basics: High school soccer game. 2 players going after 50/50 ball colided. 15 yr old got broken orbit, cheek bone. 18 yr old(my child) got bump on head and severe headache. 15 y/o family had 18 y/o arrested for criminal assault saying he hit the 15y/o with fist. To keep from going to jury trial, 18 y/o did Pre-trial Diversion with 18 months probation, record now expunged.
15y/o is now 18 and has placed a civil suit against the now 21 y/o. Homeowners is providing attorney, but suit is for $200,000 and liability coverage is only $100,000. Should we get another attorney to help covered uninsured assets? Or since it is the 21y/o being sued can they even get any of parents assets?? Is it best to settle or go to trial and fight it hoping the jury sees these people for what they are? This family had sued multiple times and been paid off. They sued the school system and was paid off $5000. Now have come after us.

**A: confusing post. Who are you in all of this?

[Zigner]

And why would the 18 year old have ever even been charged with a crime, much less agreed to anything but a not guilty plea?

[lealea1005]

If the 15 y/o has a fractured orbit & cheekbone and the 18 y/o has a concussion, then where'd the fist come in? Injuries are a risk of playing the game. Did they get into a fight AFTER the incident?

[proudpatriot]

My child was 18 at the time of the accident. There was no fight. There was no foul called with the ref right there. But the 15 y/o family claims he was hit with a fist and had him arrested. The detective for this never spoke to the refs, witnesses we gave him and our great assistant DA decided to skip the judge and took it to the grand jury. With only the info from there side it was decided to go to trial. This day and time you can't trust that a jury will give reasonable outcomes.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by proudpatriot

My child was 18 at the time of the accident. There was no fight. There was no foul called with the ref right there. But the 15 y/o family claims he was hit with a fist and had him arrested. The detective for this never spoke to the refs, witnesses we gave him and our great assistant DA decided to skip the judge and took it to the grand jury. With only the info from there side it was decided to go to trial. This day and time you can't trust that a jury will give reasonable outcomes.

Are you saying that your son had a jury trial and was found guilty?

[proudpatriot]

no, our original lawyer told us the best bet was to do the Pre-trial deversion. That way he never had to claim any guilt. That way we avoided the trial.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by proudpatriot

no, our original lawyer told us the best bet was to do the Pre-trial deversion. That way he never had to claim any guilt. That way we avoided the trial.

Okay, so there was a pre-trial diversion and he completed it okay and there is nothing on his record.

Is that right?

[proudpatriot]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

Okay, so there was a pre-trial diversion and he completed it okay and there is nothing on his record.

Is that right?

That's right. Can that even be brought up in the civil trial??
This whole thing has cost us a fortune and my son never did any thing wrong.
Is it possible to counter sue for any of our expenses? Just curious.

[tranquility]

This whole thing has cost us a fortune and my son never did any thing wrong.
Is it possible to counter sue for any of our expenses? Just curious.

It is your postion son has done nothing wrong. However:

High school soccer game. 2 players going after 50/50 ball colided. 15 yr old got broken orbit, cheek bone. 18 yr old(my child) got bump on head and severe headache. 15 y/o family had 18 y/o arrested for criminal assault saying he hit the 15y/o with fist. To keep from going to jury trial, 18 y/o did Pre-trial Diversion with 18 months probation, record now expunged.

Just because the record was expunged does not mean your son did not hit the other person with his fist. You say accident within the rules of the game, they say intentional action outside of the game's laws and beyond the assumption of the risk.

Now you go to court and try to come to agreement or have the court decide what happened. The criminal action is not in your favor or against it. You have to deal with the facts. When it is all done, even if you win, I find it unlikely you will be able to sue for malicious prosecution unless there is some proof you have which you haven't said as yet.

Get an attorney to defend in the suit. The SOL was tolled because the plaintiff was under 18 and your son may be liable. (If a court finds he punched rather than it being an accident.)

[proudpatriot]

Thanks for you comments.
It's so frustrating because if the investigating officer had spoken to witnesses and refs at the game, instead of just the boy and his mom and one other boy on his team, this would have never even gone anywhere. Even others on his team and parents on his team stated that my son didn't do anything. Even the boy's coach thought it was ridiculous.
This family has sued several times- the school board paid them off $72000 for a bus accident that caused $680 in medical bills to a daughter. Tried to sue the bus driver who received a commendation for her actions controlling the bus. They also sued the school board for letting my son play on the team saying he was too aggressive and were paid off $5000. Mom's tried to sue for losing her job one time. This seems to be their way of life.
Can any of that be brought up at trial?

[tranquility]

Not to prove they are sue happy. Besides, why would you want to bring up they sue when they are hurt? If you have a bunch of lawsuits they lost, then the implication could be they are just disgruntled. (Not that you could enter them as evidence as that.)

[proudpatriot]

Originally Posted by tranquility

Not to prove they are sue happy. Besides, why would you want to bring up they sue when they are hurt? If you have a bunch of lawsuits they lost, then the implication could be they are just disgruntled. (Not that you could enter them as evidence as that.)

OK point taken.
So all we can do is depend on the lawyer on our homeowners insurance, that they will pay them off or get the settlement decreased. Hopefully my son's arrest cannot be brought up since his record has been expunged. Since my son was 18, they can't go after our assets, house, etc. My son is a junior at college, so he has no money and lots of student loans. Thank goodness scholarships. So for now, we just wait. Guess that's it. Thanks.

[tranquility]

Has your lawyer told you you have no responsibility? While you may be right, I would hesitate to advise that without some research.

[proudpatriot]

Originally Posted by tranquility

Has your lawyer told you you have no responsibility? While you may be right, I would hesitate to advise that without some research.

We got a letter from our insurance company that we might want to consider hiring another lawyer to protect our non-insured assets. Our liability was only $100000 and they are suing for $200-250000. The letter did not come from the lawyer.
A friend of a friend lawyer told us that they could not come after us since my son was 18 at the time of the accident.