Ereck Plancher Trial: Judge Denies UCF Request For New Trial

An Orange County judge has denied the University of Central Florida Athletics Association’s movement to overturn the jury verdict in the Ereck Plancher case, according to reports from the Orlando Sentinel. The court previously ruled that the UCFAA was at fault for the death of UCF football player Ereck Plancher, and his parents were to be awarded $10 million in punitive damages from the university.

Orange County Circuit Judge Robert M. Evans denied the movement during a hearing Tuesday, also denying the university’s request for a new trial in the process. He explained the choice after the ruling, stating, “I don’t second-guess juries unless there simply is no evidence on which they could have based their verdict.”

After being ordered to pay Ereck Plancher’s family $10 million in a wrongful death suit, the University of Central Florida said they planned to appeal the judgment. Plancher’s family attorney, Steven Yerrid, said he welcomes the appeal:

The jury said there was no gross negligence and decided not to award punitive damages in connection to Plancher’s death during preseason workouts more than three years ago. More than 20 college football have died during workouts since 2000. They did rule that UCF was negligent and failed to do everything possible to prevent Plancher’s death. It ruled that both of Plancher’s parents were owed $5 million.

After a two week trial and five hours of deliberation, a jury awarded the family of Ereck Plancher $10 million after finding UCF guilty of negligence in Plancher’s death. That’s $10 million for the mother and father of a son that will never come home; $10 million because a school, which the family entrusted with their child, was negligent, resulting in Plancher’s death. And though it sounds like a lot of money, $10 million is nothing when considering a young man lost his life on a football field during a spring practice.

Ereck Plancher was a 19-year-old kid when he collapsed during a pre-spring workout. He was a year out of high school with his life ahead of him -- a life that was snatched away in the blink of an eye. And the worst part of it all is that his death should have been prevented.

Following Thursday night’s verdict in the case of Ereck Plancher, the University of Central Florida has issued a statement indicating its intent to appeal the decision. A jury declared the university responsible for the death of former football player Eric Plancher and ordered the UCF Athletics Association to pay his parents $10 million in restitution.

Plancher collapsed and died due to conditioning drills during at an official team practice on March 18th, 2008. The bereaved family believes the complications were a result of the sickle cell disease from which Plancher suffered.

A jury has determined that the University of Central Florida is responsible for negligence in the death of former football wide receiver Ereck Plancher, and has ordered the UCF Athletics Association to pay each of his parents $5 million. It determined that UCF would not have to pay punitive damages.

Plancher was doing drills at UCF on March 18, 2008 when he collapsed and then died. A county medical examiner, along with several experts hired by Plancher’s parents, testified at the trial that Plancher’s collapse came as a result of a sickle-cell condition.

But on Wednesday, the UCF Athletic Association’s lawyers received testimony from a paid medical expert that complications from sickle cell trait are not known to cause death. Via the Orlando Sentinel:

Later, Steinberg and two other hired medical experts testified that the autopsy report that concluded Plancher died as a result of sickle cell trait symptoms was incorrect. Dr. Azorides R. Morales, one of the other two witnesses, also testified that blockage of the sinus node entry of Plancher’s heart led to a heart attack and eventually death.

Plancher collapsed and died after offseason conditioning drills on March 18, 2008. His family is suing the UCFAA and accusing them of gross negligence. The prosecution rested their case on Monday after Plancher’s mother, Gisele, read the final Mother’s Day card her son ever gave her.

The UCFAA has maintained that Plancher died of an undiagnosed heart condition and that no one was at fault. The prosecution has charged that he died from complications from a sickle-cell trait and that his death could have been avoided if UCFAA staff had properly monitored players.

This came just a day after O’Leary denied the claims made by former player Anthony Davis on the lack of water during the practice. O’Leary insisted that he knew of Plancher’s sickle cell trait condition, but was unaware of his troubles during the workout until it concluded.

Additional testimony, this from Dr. Randy Eichner, claimed that Plancher was treated improperly by trainer Robert Jackson, who admitted while on the stand that he did not learn of Plancher’s condition until he found it in the media.

O’Leary also testified that he knew of Plancher’s sickle cell trait, a crucial piece of information, as Plancher’s family is contending that athletic training staff did not know about the player’s condition. The coach said he didn’t think the workout was especially “taxing.”

UCF trainer Mary Vander Heiden expressed surprise that assistant trainer Robbie Jackson, who was the member of the training staff most closely monitoring Plancher’s final workout, has said he didn’t know Plancher had sickle cell.