A settlement was reached between the Nashua School District and Cooper Doucette, a “former high school football player paralyzed during a 2010 practice.” According to the 12-page settlement agreement, Doucette will receive $1.3 million that will be paid by the “city’s insurance company, American Alternative Insurance Corporation.” According to court documents, an estimated $737,972 “will be paid to Doucette’s legal team at the law firm Nixon, Vogelman, Barry, Slawsky, and Simoneau,” and Doucette will receive “$2,000 a month for the next 25 years for a total of about $562,000.”Despite the settlement agreement, the city “denies any negligence in the matter.” In fact, the lawsuit states the following:“While it is impossible to accurately predict the need for medical treatment, this settlement is based upon a good faith determination of the parties in order to resolve a disputed claim...It is understood and agreed to by the parties that this settlement is a compromise of a doubtful and disputed claim, and the payments are not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of the (city), by whom liability is expressly denied.”

Nashua High School North; Image Courtesy of Nashua School District, http://nsd-schools.nashua.edu

But what happened to prompt the lawsuit in the first place? Well, back in August of 2014, Doucette was attending his football team's “first contact practice, and the first practice where the team wore pads in uniform.” According to court records, during practice “no instruction was given by the two coaches about the risk of serious injury if tackling were done without keeping your head up.” Unfortunately for Doucette, his “first attempt at a tackling drill resulted in his paralysis when he attempted to tackle a running back, placed his head down and collided head-on with the knee of the oncoming ball-carrier, resulting in a broken neck.”Because of the lack of instruction, Doucette, who was only 15-years-old at the time of the accident, originally “sued the school district and former coaches, Jason Robie and Donald Fournier, claiming that they neglected to demonstrate proper and safe tackling skills.” As coaches, one would expect them to thoroughly supervise and provide instruction on something like tackling, which itself poses risks of other injuries in addition to spinal injuries. But according to court documents, his couches failed him that day, and he'll have to live with the repercussions for the rest of his life.Fortunately for the young man, though, a settlement agreement was finally reached after months of back and forth. It should be noted, however, that part of the settlement includes the agreement that Doucette “waive any future action against the school district or the city.”

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Paralyzed football player receives $1.3m in settlement from city$1.3M settlement in paralyzed school football player case