$5 Million Verdict for High School Senior Who Suffered Skull Fracture and Brain Injury in Bubble Soccer Game
After trial: The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the judgment on June 8, 2021 because the jury was not instructed on assumption of the risk, and remanded for a new trial. We could not confirm what happened on retrial or whether the case settled.
Won by Curtis Law and Fried Goldberg LLC.
A Cobb County State Court jury awarded $5 million in September 2019 to Salvador Reyes, an 18-year-old Campbell High School student who fractured his skull and suffered frontal lobe brain damage in a bubble soccer game run by Game Truck Georgia, LLC. The jury assigned 7 percent of the fault to Reyes, which brought the judgment to about $4.65 million. In June 2021 the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and ordered a new trial.
What happened
In May 2016, Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia, hosted a bubble soccer event run by Game Truck Georgia, LLC, a party rental company that rents out games for schools and private events. Players wore large inflatable suits that cover the upper body and tried to play soccer while bumping into one another. Salvador Reyes, then 18 and an experienced soccer player, joined a match after missing the company's initial safety briefing. He had watched earlier games and believed the suit would protect him.
During play, Reyes collided with another student. The impact fractured his skull and damaged his frontal lobe, and he needed surgery to treat the injuries. His lasting problems involved memory, decision-making and mood.
Reyes sued Game Truck Georgia in the State Court of Cobb County (case 16-A-2186). He was represented by Brad Thomas and Michael Goldberg of Fried Rogers Goldberg, with William Curtis of Curtis Law. The company was defended by Craig White of Skedsvold & White. The defense argued at trial that Reyes knew the rules of soccer and should not have run at another player at that speed.
Cobb County jurors heard the case over three days, and it ended on September 11, 2019. After about two hours of deliberation, the jury returned a $5 million verdict and found Game Truck Georgia 93 percent at fault and Reyes 7 percent at fault. Applying that split cut the judgment to about $4.65 million. After the verdict, Thomas told Courtroom View Network that insurers continue to undervalue brain injury cases.
Game Truck Georgia appealed. On June 8, 2021, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the judgment in Game Truck Georgia, LLC v. Quezada. The court found there was slight evidence supporting an assumption of the risk defense, because Reyes was an experienced player who knew the sport's rules against charging and head-butting. It held that the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on that defense was harmful as a matter of law and sent the case back for a new trial. The ruling turned on the jury instruction alone, not on the injury findings. We could not find a record of a retrial or a settlement.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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