A jury in Richland County, South Carolina, has awarded $4.8 million to a high school football player who suffered a severe heat stroke at a June practice, finding his school district grossly negligent.
The verdict came late Friday after the jury deliberated nearly six hours in a trial that began July 21 before State Judge Daniel Coble. About 10 witnesses testified. The South Carolina High School League, also named as a defendant, was dismissed from the case in recent weeks. Richland School District One had no comment as of Monday morning, and its attorneys did not reply to requests for comment.
What Happened to Jordan Stroud
Jordan Stroud was a rising freshman in June 2022, tall and athletic, a basketball standout who wanted to try out for football at Lower Richland High. According to the lawsuit, he showed signs of heat distress during an outdoor practice but was kept on the field until he passed out.
He was placed in a medically induced coma for 10 days and spent nearly two months in the hospital. The damage was permanent. One heat-caused injury reduced the four muscles in his shin and calf to a portion of a single muscle, according to attorney Chase Keibler, who tried the case with co-counsel Jessica Monsell. Stroud, now 19, walks with a brace and faces elevated risk of heart problems and arthritic conditions in his hips, ankles, and knees. He testified at his own trial.
What the Lawsuit Said the School Skipped
The suit alleged that school officials ignored or failed to check the day's Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, a heat measure that factors in humidity, sun, and wind rather than air temperature alone, and which is supposed to be monitored throughout outdoor activity. Above a WBGT of 92.1 degrees, practice is supposed to be canceled. The suit says the reading exceeded that threshold that day.
It further alleged the district failed to implement a heat acclimatization plan to phase athletes into the heat gradually, and that no cold-water immersion tub, the standard tool for rapidly cooling a collapsed athlete, was on the field. The complaint described a "deliberate indifference to the lives of student-athletes" and a failure to train and supervise staff on heat illness.
June 13, 2022 was an unusually hot day. "It was the hottest June 13 in the Midlands," Keibler said, though he noted the record was not set until 5 o'clock.
The District's Defense
Richland School District One denied negligence. In an amended answer, it said it did not ignore the temperatures that day, denied lacking heat stroke preventative measures, and rejected the claim that it was indifferent to student-athletes' safety.
The district also argued that any injuries were the fault of Stroud and his mother, Ashley Stroud Collins, who filed the suit on his behalf, and asked the jury to assign them a share of the blame if it found the district liable. The jury instead found the district grossly negligent.
Why This Lands Now
The timing is not lost on anyone in South Carolina. Schools across the state are gearing up for fall football and practicing in summer heat right now.
"Heat-related illness is an incredibly preventable thing," Keibler said. He pointed to acclimatization as the first line of defense. "It takes seven to 10 days to acclimatize a student-athlete to both the heat and the physical activity," he said, adding that football players collapse from heat illness at far higher rates than athletes in other sports combined, that most heat injuries happen in the first week of practice, and that linemen and larger players are the most susceptible.
For a parent, that turns a $4.8 million verdict into a short list of questions worth asking before the first practice: does the school check WBGT during practice and act on it, is there a written acclimatization schedule for the first two weeks, and is there a cold-water immersion tub on the field. Those three things are cheap, they are standard, and a jury just put a price on skipping them.
Sources
The State: Richland SC jury awards $4.8 million in high school football heat injury case
