Jim Vititoe, President of the Vititoe Law Group, is greatly concerned about the safety of amateur and professional athletes. In the past few years, it seems like a daily occurrence that you hear about an athlete sustaining a serious head injury. In addition, we hear about former players’ difficulties with previously sustained life altering injuries after years of employment of playing professional sports. Headlining recent news is the litigation for retired NFL players that played professional football. Vititoe Law Group represents over 100 of the retired players involved in the settlement. The NFL recently agreed to pay over three quarters of a billion dollars towards retired players who sustained injuries while playing in the NFL. Vititoe Law Group is very happy for the players it represents in this lawsuit, especially those that have suffered life-altering injuries.
Jim has a good fundamental basis for his concerns and opinions. Jim is widely recognized as a legal industry leader for advocacy of victims sustaining catastrophic injuries. For decades, Jim has focused on helping those that have encountered serious cognitive injuries. Among his many professional accolades and affiliates, Jim is the current Vice President of the National Brain Injury Trial Lawyers Association – http://www.nbitla.org/. Jim has also been selected one of the top 100 trial attorneys in California by the National Trial Lawyers Association – http://www.thenationaltriallawyers.org/profile-view/James/Vititoe/1508/.
As of September 15, 2013, a new concern for professional athletes surfaced. We now have the issue of where the athletes can properly file their workers’ compensation claim. California has long been a potential safe haven for professional athletes to seek workers’ compensation benefits for viable work related injuries. Now with the modification pursuant to AB1309, you must determine the percentage of time spent in California to conclude the proper jurisdiction to file a claim. The previous law provided that an employee who had been hired outside of the State of California, but was temporarily in California, while being in the course and scope of his or her employment, may elect to file their claim before the California Workers’ Compensation Board. For example, when a professional football team travels from a state other than California (AZ, NY, TX, etc.) to California to play in a game, in which they are being compensated for.
Another ongoing concern is the safety of amateur athletes. Often we hear about an injury during a high school or collegian-sporting event. These injuries can be devastating to those involved in the accident including the effects that it may have on family members. Necessary steps must be taken to help reduce the amount of injuries during practice and games. Even cheerleading accidents are not uncommon. Cheerleaders can have very scary situations occur. For example, just think about a cheerleader being thrown up in the air ten to fifteen feet, who then must rely on another athlete to safely catch them.
Accidents can occur anywhere, but we must do what we can to help minimize and prevent sporting accidents. The safety of all athletes should be the ultimate priority to all those involved.
