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The Indiana Supreme Court will hear arguments June 26 in USA Track & Field’s appeal of a lawsuit filed by an Olympian who contends the organization bears some responsibility she sustained at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Heptathlon Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Counsel for Olympian Taliyah Brooks argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals last August that Indianapolis-basd USA Track & Field could have avoided Brooks’s heat-related injuries during the event by rescheduling it to later in the day when temperatures were cooler, as it has with other events.
Brooks’s original lawsuit in Marion Superior Court sought a declaratory judgment that a waiver, release of liability, assumption of risk, and indemnity agreement found in USATF’s membership documents was unenforceable. She signed the organization’s waiver and indemnity agreement to participate in the event.
Brooks requested an injunction that would prevent USATF from enforcing the waiver and agreement against her if she raised a tort claim against them, but the trial court denied that motion and granted USATF’s motion.
Later, Indiana Court of Appeals allowed Brooks’ amended complaint to move forward. USA Track & Field appealed to the high court to object the appellate court’s decision.
While the appeals court ruling allowed the Brooks’ amended claim of gross negligence to move forward, it noted that the indemnity agreement athletes must sign protects USA Track & Field from many other liability claims.
The state’s high court now assumes jurisdiction over the case and will determine whether the trial court’s denial of Brooks’s post-“final judgment” motion to amend her complaint conflicts with the “finality of judgments” doctrine.
The case is Taliyah Brooks v. USA Track & Field, Inc., 23A-PL-01685.
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