As Minnesota high schools shape and mold their fall sports teams, they’re also forging an important relationship with someone not on their roster: the athlete’s parents.
Parents entrust their children to their coaches. Coaches count on buy-in from parents in order to make calls on and off the field.
That relationship souring can, in extreme cases, lead to allegations of wrongdoing leveled against coaches. And while a vast majority of parent-coach conflicts do not end in a courtroom, in the instance these allegations are false, a defamation lawsuit may be leveled back at parents.
“There’s a breaking point. Where that breaking point is is kind of up to the individual,“ said Pat O’Neill Jr., a St. Paul attorney who focuses on professional liability litigation. ”But obviously, a breaking point would be being dismissed, or a breaking point would be the level of engagement has just gotten too high."
After a few high-profile defamation lawsuits against parents, where does Minnesota’s legal system draw the line in public criticism of high school coaches?
In 2013, Minnesota passed what was believed to be the nation’s first law of its kind to protect coaches from disgruntled parents.
The law stipulated “parent complaints must not be the sole reason” for a coach’s removal. The law passed after coaches called attention to the growing pressure they faced from parents unhappy about decisions regarding their children’s playing time and team roles — pressure that has intensified with the...
Some trial lawyers and various organizations are working to convince the General Assembly to pass a state False Claims Act arguing it will raise money to help close the revenue gap currently preve...