Should athletes or officials have the right to appeal an official USA WS decision in a court of law?

[Horton]

Should athletes or officials have the right to appeal an official USA WS decision in a court of law? If a ruling has been protested, appealed, and then brought to the BOD should that be the end of it? In some cases, the “Court of Arbitration for Sport“ could be the final step.

 

Should there be a code of conduct rule for athletes or officials that forbids escalation beyond a certain point? Should officials be free of the threat of litigation?

 

[9400]

Would guess we probably could now but this is scary and if it happens...oh sheet!

Any context or hypothetical situation we could look at?

[Bruce_Butterfield]

First you would need to determine what, if any law was broken before heading to any civil court. I would certainly hope our organization follows its procedures in a reasonable manor and follows due process for any accusations before punishment or reprimands are made.

 

All going to court would do is make the lawyers more money and increase the liability risk to the organization. Bad idea all around.

[ForrestGump]

Nascar has an appeals panel that works fairly well. The appeals board members do not work for nascar. They are industry professionals, though. Nascar fines someone, let's say. They appeal. They go before the board, state their case, and present backing data to support their case. The board can keep, reverse, or even change parameters of the Nascar decision by a majority vote.

[Jody_Seal]

Wa! Wa!'wa! I did not get my score!!!@!!

Seriously is this what this sport has become???

Bunch of crybabies!!

[thager]

@Jody_Seal Seems to be a trend everywhere.........because everyone is a whiner! ................I mean winner!

[Andre]

Big difference if you're talking about a score or alledged criminal act...

[APB]

yes and no. at an amateur level no, at a pro level yes. a score can change the path of a skiers career. it would however have to be a serious error on behalf of the judges for someone to advance it into the courts.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@APB challenging a SCORE to a civil court?!?!? Are you freaking kidding?

 

I'm pretty sure Horton's poll is related to penalties for things like SafeSport, policy violations, or cheating of some sort.

 

If there is an alleged criminal act, it should already be in court and any organizational penalties would be secondary. That is if Horton gets caught beating his wife again, he goes to jail AND gets suspended from USAWS.

[dave2ball]

@APB please explain how a court of law is going to change/challenge a score???? WTHAT THE FRENCH TOAST? Please explain.

I believe that if there was a investigation through safe sport and there have been no criminal laws broken no. The athlete should not be able to challenge the ruling of the governing body who did this investigation. It would just undermine the governing body of the sport.

[sunperch]

When I read this question I was not thinking of "my score was wrong". I was thinking if the board (USAWS) made a decision that was detrimental to our (AWSA) ability to continue to participate in this sport. Filing a lawsuit regarding a wrong call or score at a tournament is ridiculous.

[Horton]

Let me be perfectly clear. I am not talking about SafeSport or crimes or anything of the sort. I'm talking about decisions that are in relation to a sport or administration of the sport. I'm talking about subjects relating to an individual's status within the sport as an athlete or official.

[JackQ]

How many of the four yes votes are from attorneys?

[Horton]

Imagine a skier goes to a major event and circumstances are such that officials have to make an unusual judgement call and perhaps in retrospect it is the wrong call ( or not) and it impacts a skiers placement. Should that skier be able to escalate their protest beyond the bounds of the sport and in to court?

 

Imagine a judge or driver or another official is subject to discipline for alleged improper actions pertaining to their official capacity at an event. Should that official have the right to fight potential disciplinary actions in court?

[Andre]

With the question much clearer,i would now vote ''No''.

[gjohnson]

Imagine Jim Micheals going to court to get himself and his records reinstated.

[Luzz]

Imagine a skier goes to a major event and circumstances are such that officials have to make an unusual judgement call and perhaps in retrospect it is the wrong call ( or not) and it impacts a skiers placement. Should that skier be able to escalate their protest beyond the bounds of the sport and in to court?

Imagine a judge or driver or another official is subject to discipline for alleged improper actions pertaining to their official capacity at an event. Should that official have the right to fight potential disciplinary actions in court?

No, no, and more no. These sort of things should be resolved at the association/federation level, not in a court of law :lol:

[GaryJanzig]

I am not an attorney, but I don't see how anyone under the legal system can show any actual harm to the person being suspended. There is no financial loss if a person is not allowed to participate, and no injury by not being allowed to participate. You are in a voluntary relationship with the organization, and by participating you agree to the code of conduct. Under that code of conduct the organization has the right to suspend or terminate the relationship. I would be surprised if a court would take such a case. Any attorneys out there? Am I on the right track? My take for being no is, we don't need the added legal costs to have an organized sport. However, law enforcement would have to get involved if there is a case of assault, battery, or sexual assault.

[Horton]

I wonder how his is handled in other sports

[lpskier]

@horton What is the basis for this question? Do you have something specific in mind?

[Zman]

No, given the explanation @Horton gave in his second post.

"IF" it had to do with criminal stuff, yes, of course.

[lpskier]

The question as posed is a false dilemma. An aggrieved athlete or official may appeal an adverse action of USAWSWS (or other national governing body) to the United States Olympic Committee and participate in binding arbitration through the American Arbitration Association. So an adverse decision from the USAWSWS Board, as the question is framed, is not necessarily the end of the line.

 

Thus the question posed: should an athlete be able to sue or be stuck with a board decision- ignores the existing choice of going to arbitration through the USOC.

 

However, absent very unusual circumstances and only in rare occasions, USOC arbitration is the end of the line.

[Horton]

@lpskier I may have used the wrong terminology.

 

What would the cost be in terms of dollars and hours to defend an appeal to United States Olympic Committee?

 

[Horton]

@lpskier I do see the American Arbitration Association reference in BYLAWS ARTICLE IX COMPLAINT AND APPEAL PROCEDURES

 

Is that new verbiage? Perhaps my concern has been remedied.

[lpskier]

I believe that is it. I think the party that initiates the arbitration pays $1000 and then both parties split the cost of the arbitrator.