The University of Central Florida has officially filed its appeal to a higher court after an Orange County jury awarded the parents of Ereck Plancher a $10 million verdict.
KnightNews.com covered the wrongful death lawsuit the parents of the UCF football player — who died during a workout — brought against UCF’s private athletic association during last summer’s trial.
Even though UCF chose to privatize its athletics corporation as a direct support organization, which allows UCF to keep secret certain information that open records law would otherwise require UCF to disclose, UCF has insisted the private athletics corporation should be treated as a public state agency when it comes to a $200,000 cap on lawsuits public agencies enjoy. A reason UCF gave was because President John Hitt has control over the private corporation.
The judge disagreed UCF’s private athletics corporation should be immune to the full payment. That decision is one that UCF plans to appeal. See an interview with UCF spokesman Grant Heston we shot right after the verdict came down last year, where he discusses other issues planned for the appeal:
