Teaching Torts with Sports

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2010.01086.x
• Author: Adam Epstein
• Date: 01 January 2011
• Published date: 01 January 2011

Teaching Torts with Sports

Adam Epstein

n

I. INTRODUCTION

One of the most enjoyable and interesting subjects for students taking a business

law or legal environment course is the study of torts. Whether a course only

allows this discussion for a week or longer, seasoned professors realize that they

can capture the attention of students by covering torts topics such as slip-and-fall

litigation, defective products that cause injuries, and fisticuffs among neighbors.

The purpose of this article is to offer a roadmap for engaging students through

sports-related tort issues and litigation. This article encourages the use of sports

torts because they are of particular interest to many students and also because

they facilitate an active learning environment.

1

The article discusses tort issues

that can be examined using sports cases and cites numerous examples.

Sports torts present a natural opportunity to use video clips in the class-

room. Videos are an invaluable technological tool to demonstrate various torts

to the students, and sportsvideosareubiquitous.

2

Usually, students are quite

eager to watch videos with action. Therefore, throughout the entire semester,

videos showing late hits, athletes kicking cameramen, fighting among fans,

misbehavior by athletes or mascots, and attacks on sports reporters are effec-

tive and energizing both in and out of the classroom environment.

3

The

r2011 The Author

Journal of Legal Studies Education r2011 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

117

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 28, Issue 1, 117–142, Winter/Spring 2011

n

Professor, Department of Finance and Law, Central Michigan University.

1

See Kate E. Bloch, Cognition and Star Trek

s

: Learning and Legal Education,42J.MARSHALL L.

REV. 959 (2009) (discussing the power of the active learning environment including the effi-

cacy of the use of visuals and videos in the classroom environment).

2

Id. at 986–91 (citing pedagogical studies indicating the importance of visuals as part of the

educational process to yield a positive change in students attitudes and perceptions); Paul L.

Caron & Rafael Gely, Taking Back the Law School Classroom: Using Technology to Foster Active

Student Learning,54J.L

EGAL EDUC. 551, 552 (2004) (‘‘Active learning recognizes that, during

classroom time, students should be engaged in behavior and activities other than listening.’’).

3

With the help of a mediated classroom, I try to show videos virtually every class. One way to

encourage students to consider sports torts throughout the semester is to offer extra credit for

discovery of useful Internet links to articles or other videos directly related to class discussion.

Appendix lists some examples of videos that demonstrate possible tortious

conduct. Additional current videos can be found easily on YouTube.com and

similar Internet video sources.

By using current sport-related examples, I have found that that more

students are willing to participate because they can relate to the context.

Most of today’s students, members of the MTV/Google Generation (and its

various synonyms), grew up with the Internet and its riches, and using

sport-related videos in class can be a fun and engaging way to connect with

them as their guide through torts.

4

While each instructor has his or her own style or preference with

regard to the order of teaching torts, for over a decade I have found that

beginning with negligence, rather than the intentional torts, is more effec-

tive for me and allows me to introduce how the early sports torts decisions

focused on negligence rather than intentional torts.

5

II. NEGLIGENCE

Sports law as a distinct category of the law is relatively new and has been

met with some hesitancy.

6

Classic sports tort cases, most from the 1970s,

With the advent of online course management software, such as Blackboard, little effort is

needed to recognize student work by providing both a grade incentive and recognition of the

effort by sharing the links within your course shell. I have found that, once I recognize a

student for finding an article or video, others naturally follow the lead and want to

participate as well.

4

See Joan Catherine Bohl, Generations X and Y in Law School: Practical Strategies for Teaching the

‘‘MTV/Google’’ Generation,54L

OY.L.REV. 775, 791 (2008) (‘‘As law teachers, we must change.

Law professors teaching past generations were purveyors of information, revered for the

information they could impart . . . Gen X Y students are expert gatherersof information, or so

they perceive themselves to be. The successful law teacher must transcend the old role of

providing information and become a guru.’’); Charles R. Calleros, Using Classroom Demonstra-

tions in FamiliarNonlegal Contexts to Introduce New Students to Unfamiliar Concepts of Legal Method

and Analysis, 7 J. LEGAL WRITING INST. 37, 38 (2001) (‘‘Unless students can relate our words to

some concrete experience within their present knowledge, our explanations will remain

abstractions to most students.’’).

5

For a fuller discussion on a suggested approach to teaching sports law generally, including

sports torts, see Adam Epstein, The Fundamentals of Teaching Sports Law,4W

ILLAMETTE SPORTS

L.J. 1, 9 (2007), available at http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/pdf/sportslaw/spring07/art1.pdf.

6

See generally Timothy Davis, What is Sports Law?,11MARQ.SPORTS L. REV. 211 (2001); Kenneth

L. Shropshire, Introduction: Sports Law?,35AM.BUS.L.J. 181, 181–84 (1998) (noting that there

is no real distinct area of the law known as ‘‘sports law’’ but that it may be better

118 Vol. 28 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education