1. Responsibilities of Game Officials
Chapter 15
Responsibilities of Game Officials

2. The Official as the defendant
The potential liability of officials can be best understood when looked at in the context of basic tort law
Duty, standard of care, foresee ability and proximate cause
Officials to be held liable in the event of an injury to a player or spectator, must be shown to have violated a legal duty undertaken by the official.
This duty consisting of an action or failure to act, must bear a relationship to the injury
Third the officials actions must have occurred where it was reasonably foreseeable that some injure would occur

3. Controlling the game
Standards for officiating professional sports are much different than amateur sports because participants in professional sports are self sufficient adults
Pro athletes need safe environments, but not so much as youth populations
Officials are charged by the rules with penalizing taunting and baiting.
In high schools rules these terms are defined as any attempt to embarrass, ridicule or demean any person
Game officials violate accepted standards when they fail to penalize such actions

4. Controlling the game
Game officials who fail to firmly enforce the rules are placing themselves in a position of high legal exposure
By not penalizing a player at the beginning of a match they are saying that the action is OK and is potentially setting them up for negligence if someone is injured later in the game
In most cases an official sued for negligence can expect their actions to be judged against the following items
The rule book
The case book
Officials manual
Training materials or documents containing written modifications to any of the above
The officials written contract
Facilities, and equipment specifications promulgated by outside groups
Officials code of ethics

5. Controlling the game
The national Federation of State High School Associations is helped by the National Federation Officials Association
the Officials association has a code of ethics
This code specifies that officials must be aware of the inherent risk of injury that competition poses to student athletes and inform event management of unusually hazardous situations and emergency situations

6. Duty
The duty an official owes to a participating athlete comes form two legal concepts: contractual duty and the duty to control
The end or aim of the contract for the official is to ensure athlete safety
The officials are able to exert a degree of control over the actions and conduct of the athletes and may bear a legal obligation to do so

7. Standard Of Care
Remember the standard of care is that standard which a reasonably prudent individual would be expected to follow under the same or similar circumstances
For officials this would mean a reasonable and prudent official who must, by the rules of the sport itself, act in a specialized and skillful matter
In courts training material, the officials contract, the sports rule book and the officials manual have been used to determine what the standard of care is

8. Standard Of Care
The referee is responsible for rule enforcement of the rules and regulations during competition, but they are not responsible for the creation of those rules
They are then bound to uphold the rules as they are designed
One exception is if there are local ground rules that create an unreasonable risk and the official decides to uphold them. The official may share in the potential liability for this

9. Forseeability
If rules for the sport are not enforced it is reasonable to assume that an increase of dangerous activities may ensue
The yardstick for forseeability is whether or not the possibility of an injury should have been apparent to a prudent official acting under the same or similar circumstances

10. Proximate Cause
The negligent actions of the officials must be shown to have been the proximate cause of the injury
When one athlete is injured as a result of the actions of another, and an official is sued, the proximate cause will revolve around the question of whether the actions of the player who caused the injury could reasonably have been controlled by the official
One way to do this is the but for test.
This is to keep everything in the incident the same except for the officiating, if the incident would have still occurred then the official is not responsible for the injury

11. Statutory Immunity For officials
There are laws that differ from state to state that grant umpires and officials partial immunity from liability negligence under certain circumstance
Most of these grant immunity from ordinary negligence but not from gross negligence
An intentional act of an official like assaulting a coach or athlete is not protected by the officials immunity

12. Employment status of officials
Officials are often viewed as independent contractors rather than employees of the school
This makes it so that the school is not liable for the actions of the official. If they are employees by the institution then that institution is the officials respondent superior and liable for its employees negligence
A school that hires an official may still be liable to an injured athlete should it be shown that the school or league failed to exercise reasonable care in selecting that official

13. Facilities and Equipment
Officials are also charges with determining the safety and appropriateness of the facilities and equipment used in a contest
Like coaches and teacher the official would be expected to respond to both actual and constructive notice
An athlete complaining about the equipment to the official would be actual notice
The official going through proper pre game inspection would be constructive notice

14. Supervision
The official is expected to maintain reasonable control of the activities. They must be alert in regard to their positioning in the playing area so that they cam properly supervise actions both on and away from the ball
An official focus all their attention on the ball may not see a situation that develops behind the play that leads to a bench clearing brawl

15. After an Injury
It is the job of the official to know the rules of the sport when it comes to stoppage of play for an injury
An official must determine if the player needs assistance and if play needs to be stopped and then grant medical personnel unblocked access to the injured athlete
Any official who renders medical treatment or discuss the cause of the injury increase their chances of being sued