Uechi-Ryu.com

This thread is related to the creative prosecution for murder thread Alan started. Does anybody know of a situation where an owner or instructor of a dojo has been targeted for criminal prosecution or civil litigation due to an injury in the dojo?

For instance: Class is working on wrist locks. A senior student or assistant instructor goes too far and negligently breaks the wrist of a class participant.

In 22 years I have seen some broken ribs, a broken wrist and dozens of sprains and finger and toe injuries. In each instance, the injured person (sometimes me) has shrugged it off as “one of those things” or “I should have made a tighter fist.” However, these were always adult classes. The parent of a child with a broken rib may not be so quick to shrug it off.

So what about it, any first hand experience out there with criminal or civil litigation?

Sincerely,

Norm Abrahamson

I have heard of civil claims being made resulting from overly "hard" testing and to these, I never have heard the final result.

There was a case reported on one of the forums concerning a civil suit resulting from alleged negligence of a martial arts school where the complaint stated that she was sparring in a dojo with a large group all sparring at the same time and suffered very serious injuries resulting from her being distracted and was kicked in the head.I believe that the complaint was filed in England.

I am sure that there have been plenty of cases not reported.

Most are settled like any other tort case.

Perhaps Van Canna, sensei or others can answer your question.

Alan K