YahooSports - Tom Tupa wins workers’ comp case against Redskins

[Champskins]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=nfp-20110309_tom_tupa_wins_workers_comp_case_against_redskins

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that the Washington Redskins must pay Tom Tupa workers’ compensation for the back injury that ended the punter’s career six years ago.

According to the Washington Post, Tupa was injured during warmups before a preseason game in 2005. He never punted again and two years later filed a claim with the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission. Tupa won the claim and the Redskins appealed.

Now, Tupa stands victorious and the Redskins must pay him partial disability and medical expenses. Per the report, the former Ohio State star currently works as the recreation director at a community center in Brecksville, Ohio.

[ATTACH]45238[/ATTACH]

Dude was a big punter... 6'4 225 - glad he gets some satisfaction out of this though and take away some of DS money

*Improved benefits to retired players are one of the many issues the NFL Players Association is fighting for in the ongoing CBA negotiations.*

[Hitman21ST]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=nfp-20110309_tom_tupa_wins_workers_comp_case_against_redskins

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that the Washington Redskins must pay Tom Tupa workers’ compensation for the back injury that ended the punter’s career six years ago.

According to the Washington Post, Tupa was injured during warmups before a preseason game in 2005. He never punted again and two years later filed a claim with the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission. Tupa won the claim and the Redskins appealed.

Now, Tupa stands victorious and the Redskins must pay him partial disability and medical expenses. Per the report, the former Ohio State star currently works as the recreation director at a community center in Brecksville, Ohio.

[ATTACH]45238[/ATTACH]

Dude was a big punter... 6'4 225 - glad he gets some satisfaction out of this though and take away some of DS money

*Improved benefits to retired players are one of the many issues the NFL Players Association is fighting for in the ongoing CBA negotiations.*

Wow...that opens up a LOT of doors...

Players claiming worker's comp for concussions, career ending injuries (aka Theismann's broken leg), etc. I predict the floodgates open soon on those cases.

[ECU-ALUM]

Whoa...Snyder lost this one and if he loses the one against the City Paper and along with the other NFL owners...does that make him 3 time loser and force him to sit out a year?

[Darth Tater]

Whoa...Snyder lost this one and if he loses the one against the City Paper and along with the other NFL owners...does that make him 3 time loser and force him to sit out a year?

Well, given that his teams lost to the Rams, shouldn't he be out of the league?

[Thinking Skins]

Whoa...Snyder lost this one and if he loses the one against the City Paper and along with the other NFL owners...does that make him 3 time loser and force him to sit out a year?

The NFL had been batting 1.000 in legal cases. Suddenly it seems they can't hit anything.

[Burgold]

Seems like an odd finding. Isn't this why players carry insurance? Was there any particular negligence found on behalf of the Redskins?

[skinsrbeast]

tom tupa was nice punting inside the twenty. damn have we struggled with punters

[scruffylookin]

Good for Tom. Sucky QB but a pretty good punter and had a great season for us his one season as a Redskin (oops I used that word I guess Snyder will sue me too).

[Zzj]

Seems like an odd finding. Isn't this why players carry insurance? Was there any particular negligence found on behalf of the Redskins?

Here's a link to the opinion (PDF warning):

PRO-FOOTBALL, INC. ET AL. v. THOMAS TUPA, JR

But, basically, the ruling was that Tupa was able to recover under a theory of worker's compensation. To answer your question, worker's compensation more or less is insurance. Or, a little more accurately, it's a contract between a worker (Tupa) and his employer (Redskins) that the worker agrees not to sue the employer in the event that the worker suffers an injury as a result of a workplace accident. In exchange, the employer waives any defense related to negligence. So, the player doesn't have to prove any negligence on the part of the team, only that they were harmed on the job, in order to collect.

So, how come Tupa gets to recover while other NFL players who suffer gametime injuries don't? In order to collect under worker's comp., the injury suffered, not the activity giving rise to it, must have been accidental in nature. The court says:

Since 1982, the Workers' Compensation Act has specifically provided that

“compensation may not be denied to an employee because of the degree of risk associated

with the employment... the statute clearly precludes... prohibit[ing] a professional football player from recovering workers’ compensation simply because, in the words of the appellants, he “is engaged in an occupation that by its very nature renders injury commonplace.”

Since this in an appellate review, the court had to decide whether the jury at the trial level could have reasonably found that the Tupa's injury was the result of an accident:

Under the plain language of the statute, the Court

observed, “what must be ‘accidental’ is the injury and not the activity giving rise to the

injury.”...

Applying the Victory Sparkler definition of “accidental injury,” we find that the

evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury’s finding that Tupa suffered an

accidental injury. The jury heard evidence that Tupa hurt his back when he landed

awkwardly while punting in warm-ups for a preseason game. There is no allegation that

the injury was intentional. Medical testimony supported the conclusion that Tupa suffered

a sudden, traumatic injury: he immediately sought medical attention, received steroid

treatments, and did not play in the game for which he had been warming up. Two days

later, he reported 95% back pain with numbness and tingling in his left foot. Prior to that

preseason game, he had only intermittent symptoms of his underlying chronic disc

degeneration. This evidence is sufficient to support the jury’s finding that Tupa suffered

an “accidental injury.”

Appellants rely primarily on the argument that the injury was foreseeable and

expected because of the nature of Tupa’s employment as a football player. However, the

jury heard evidence that Tupa was cleared to play by the Redskins’ own doctors, which

suggests that it was not expected and foreseeable that routine punting action would cause

a career-ending injury.

So, there you go. Seems like it does set a nice precedent for players suffering serious injuries during warm-ups. We'll see where it goes from here.

[CrypticVillain]

Good for Tom. Sucky QB but a pretty good punter and had a great season for us his one season as a Redskin (oops I used that word I guess Snyder will sue me too).

Yeah. When he was with us, and his other teams, he used to have some of the best inside the five punts ever. One time when he was with the Bucs, he punted the ball against the Colts (I think it was that comeback game in 02) the ball landed like on the one and a half yard line and just started to spin on the ground. Til this day, the best punt I have ever seen.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Good for Tom. Always liked him as a player, and he seems a nice dude off the field.

This all opens up an interesting new avenue though. Dangerous precedent if your a sports franchise.

Hail.

[mossomo]

Redskins must pay him partial disability... the former Ohio State star currently works as the recreation director

Don't know how you can be found to be partially disabled and still be a recreation director.

[Chanhillbilly]

I'm pretty sure that he never kicked again in the NFL because he was old as dirt back in 05.