USA Water Polo Has No Concussion Policy, Class Action Says

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

USA Water Polo Inc. was hit with class action lawsuit for allegedly failing to provide policies and procedures to make sure players are protected from concussions that may occur in the course of a water polo game.

Plaintiff Alice Mayall filed the class action lawsuit against the sport’s governing body in the United States on Tuesday over injuries sustained by her 16 year-old daughter, who is referred to as H.C. in the class action lawsuit.

Mayall explains in her USA Water Polo class action lawsuit that her daughter participated in a tournament with her water polo team in February 2014 in which she played five games over three days.

On the second day of the tournament, H.C. was playing goalie for her team when she was hit in the face when a player on the opposing team attempted to take a shot, causing a concussion, Mayall says in her class action lawsuit.

“The game was not stopped by referee or the coach. Rather, H.C. swam to the side of the goal and spoke with her coach while her team was on offense,” the USA Water Polo class action lawsuit explains.

“H.C.’s coach (lacking any concussion management training, qualifications, and education from USA Water Polo) asked her a couple of questions,” Mayall says.

“Dazed and unaware of the severity of her injury, H.C. told her coach that she wanted to return to play despite suffering a concussion. She was not taken out of the game,” she added.

“Despite the susceptibility of youth athletes to concussions, USA Water Polo did not provide any athletic trainers or medical personnel for the tournament or require that any athletic trainers or medical personnel be present at the tournament,” Mayall claims in her class action lawsuit.

The mother of the 16-year-old girl says that H.C. continued to play for the remainder of the tournament and continued to take additional hits to her head, which only exacerbated her initial injury, adding that the games were never stopped by either the coach or referee to check on her condition. Nor was she provided any medical attention.

After returning home, H.C. allegedly “started to experience headaches, sleepiness and fatigue” and “as a result H.C. was unable to attend school,” the class action lawsuit explains.

Two weeks after the tournament, her symptoms continued, which also included “excessive sleeping, dizziness, inability to tolerate movement, extreme sensitivity to light, headaches, decreased appetite, nausea, and inability to do any school work,” Mayall adds.

As a result, Mayall decided to take her daughter to the doctor, who diagnosed H.C. with post-concussion syndrome. The diagnosis was confirmed a week later by a neurologist.

The symptoms from her injuries continued and “H.C. never returned to school. Rather, in April, H.C. started on a home-and-hospital instructional program through the school district which continued through the end of the school year in June,” Mayall explains in her USA Water Polo concussion class action lawsuit.

“Although previously an excellent student, H.C’s productivity in completing academic work at home was greatly diminished,” Mayall added.

Almost a year later, Mayall says that H.C. still hasn’t fully recovered from her injuries. While she has returned to school, she has only completed one class and is now only taking three classes on a half day schedule, instead of the five classes that she should be taking.

Mayall places blame for her daughter’s injuries on the lack of policies, regulations or rules in place by USA Water Polo including educating coaches and athletes on the signs of a concussion.

“Specifically . . . USA Water Polo failed to implement system-wide concussion recognition and ‘return-to-play’ guidelines for athletes who have sustained concussions,” the class action lawsuit alleges.

Mayall is looking to represent a nationwide class of “current or former water polo players who from 2013 to the present competed for a team governed by USA Water Polo or participated in an event managed or governed by USA Water Polo.”

She is charging USA Water Polo with negligence, breach of voluntary undertaking, lack of medical monitoring, and gross negligence.

The plaintiffs are represented by Steve W. Berman, Elaine T. Byszewski, Elizabeth A. Fegan and Thomas E. Ahlering of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

Counsel information for USA Water Polo was not immediately available.

The USA Water Polo Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is Mayall et al. v. USA Water Polo Inc., Case No. 8:15-cv-00171, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.