Legal News

No, No, Says Wisc. High Court: Cheerleading is a Contact Sport

By Dan Slater

Remember the lawsuit that tore apart the Holmen High School cheerleading team? Let’s catch you up.

Last month we blogged on Brittany Noffke, a ninth-grade cheerleader for Holmen who fell while practicing a three-person stunt and suffered a head injury. Noffke sued Kevin Bakke — a male cheerleader who allegedly failed to spot her — for negligence.

Noffke scored a big win when the Wisconsin appellate court held, somewhat controversially, that cheerleading was not a “contact sport” for purposes of a Wisconsin statute, and therefore Bakke is not immune from liability. (The statute provides that a participant “in a recreational activity that includes physical contact between persons in a sport involving amateur teams” is liable only for causing injury to another participant by acting “recklessly or with intent to cause injury.”)

Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court disagreed. It held that Bakke, the young man who allegedly failed to spot Noffke, “is immune from liability because he was participating in a recreational activity that includes physical contact between persons in a sport involving amateur teams.” (HT: Legal Profession blog.)

The court also held, among other things, that the statute provides the school district with immunity for the alleged negligent acts of the cheerleading coach “because no ministerial duty was violated by the cheerleading coach and there was no known and compelling danger that gave rise to a ministerial duty.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).