Cheerleading Injury Lawsuits Begin To Pile Up

Research recently found that cheerleading is the number 1 cause of catastrophic injuries among high school and college athletes. Lawsuits arising from these injuries have already begun to pile up.

Personal injury lawyers around the country are seeing an increase in the number of young teenage victims turning up with serious injuries after a midair acrobatic stunt went horribly wrong. As cheerleading routines have become more and more complicated, cheerleaders have gone from doing simple cartwheels to performing elaborate gymnastics routines, in which cheerleaders are thrown up to 25 feet in the air with no protective safety to cushion their descent.

Earlier this year, researchers at the National Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio found that children these days, were much more likely to sustain injuries during gym class than they were 10 years ago. According to that research, the number of injuries jumped by 150 percent in 2007. In 1997, there had been approximately 24,347 injuries related to physical education classes compared to 62,408 in 2007. While the major sports - running, football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics - accounted for about 70 percent of all injuries, catastrophic injuries, like those involving spinal cord injuries, were most often linked to cheerleading.

According to another report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, cheerleading was the leading cause of serious and even fatal injuries, in high school and college athletes. These injuries accounted for approximately 65 percent of high school athletes and 70 percent of college athletes. Those catastrophic injuries usually involved spinal cord injuries and head injuries. Victims have also suffered lower back fractures, and some accidents have ended in paralysis, and even death.

In Los Angeles, a 17-year-old cheerleader who was severely injured and fell into a coma, has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District.

According to Kimberley Archie, who is the founder of the Irvine-based National Cheer Safety Foundation, the injuries that are caused in cheerleading accidents can resemble those that result from car accidents. Currently, there's barely any safety equipment used when cheerleading teams practice their stunning moves, training standards are minimal, and there is very little preparation for any emergency situation, should one occur. Archie is lobbying for cheerleading to gain sport status.

Personal injury lawyers, who have been involved in litigation relating to cheerleading injuries, have found that the going is tough. There are no rules governing cheerleading, and no standards that schools and coaches can be held up to. It's not uncommon for coaches and gyms to brush away injuries related to cheerleading as risks that the cheerleader assumes.

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that cheerleading was a contact sport, and therefore, any injuries resulting from the sport could not be grounds for litigation. According to that ruling, neither the school district nor the coach could be sued for negligence, because of the lack of any laws requiring the use of mats.