THE SIDELINES : Athlete’s Injury Award Overturned

New York’s highest court overturned today an $878,000 award to a high school football star who broke his neck during a game, ruling that schools must provide only “reasonable care” to interscholastic athletes.

The state Court of Appeals, in a 7-0 decision, said that boards of education, schools and sports councils are not liable for serious injuries to their athletes when the “ordinary reasonable care” standard is met. The case is seen as an important measure of how far schools must go to protect their interscholastic athletes.

The case was brought by Sixto Ramon Benitez, a player for George Washington High School in New York City. Benitez broke his neck and was paralyzed in a game in October, 1983. Benitez, then 19, claimed that school officials were negligent because they forced his school to play in the city’s top football league when it should not have.