The Florida Supreme Court has decided to hear an appeal of a panel’s decision to reduce the monetary award in the wrongful death lawsuit involving Eric Plancher, according to the Miami Herald.
Plancher, who played football for UCF, died following conditioning drills 2008.
According to the Miami Herald, documents accepting the case were filed by the court on Wednesday, however, no date for the court to hear the case has been set.
In August, an appeals court panel reduced a jury’s original $10 million civil trial damage judgment awarded to the parents of Ereck Plancher in 2011 to $200,000.
The trial court initially ruled that the UCF Athletics Association was a private corporation not subject to special protections for state agencies capping the amount of liability for the March 2008 death of a football player whose distress was ignored and who was prevented from receiving aid, according to the jury. The court wrote, in part, that the UCF Athletics Association “is wholly controlled by and intertwined with UCF, in that UCF created it, funded it and can dissolve it, in addition to oversee its day-to-day operations.”
According to the Sentinel, back in September the The 5th District Court of Appeal refused to certify a motion for appeal questions filed by Plancher family attorneys. The family was expected to face tougher chances for an appeal at the state supreme court level without the support of the 5th District Court of Appeal, however, the supreme court decided to hear it anyway.
Count on KnightNews.com to be at the Supreme Court whenever this case is heard to bring you every development.
