By: Joshua D. Winneker and Brooke Chronister*
Published: December 28, 2022
Introduction
People love sports. Americans, in particular, are fanatical about their favorite sports, favorite teams, and favorite players. For many fans, their lives and schedules revolve around watching and following their team. Professional athletes are role models, whether they want to be or not, with young fans idolizing them and often emulating their behavior. That is why it is so disappointing, and at times devastating, to find out that yet another professional athlete has been arrested for, or accused of, a violent crime. Beyond the effect on the victim, the player’s actions also tarnish the player, the team, and the sport itself. Meanwhile, the fans who invest so much of their time and money into following the sport are left with no recourse.
This Article proposes a possible solution for those fans that hopefully will serve as a deterrent for athletes’ potential violent criminal behavior. This proposal would allow fans to directly sue a professional athlete who is arrested for a violent crime, or, in the event of an accusation but no arrest, a player who has been punished by their respective league for that accusation. The fan need not be the victim of the crime or even be associated with the crime; rather, this new law would allow for a civil lawsuit and compensation to the fan because of the particular fan’s ties to the sport and the direct effect of the athlete’s actions on the reputation of the sport.
The genesis of and support for this law come directly from the Texas Heartbeat Act (“Heartbeat Act”). The act of performing an abortion after a certain point in the pregnancy is against the law in Texas, but the enforcement comes in the form of a civil lawsuit by a member of the public. This relatively recent law allows for members of the public to directly sue anyone who performs, or aids and abets, an abortion. The person who brings the lawsuit can receive monetary compensation from the individual who performed the abortion. Much like the Heartbeat Act, this Article’s proposed law would allow a fan to recover monetarily from the professional athlete.
*Joshua D. Winneker, JD, Associate Professor, Misericordia University and Brooke Chronister, Misericordia University (expected graduation May 2023). The authors would like to thank Adele Decker for her contributions to the initial idea.
Suggested Citation: Joshua D. Winneker & Brooke Chronister, Extending the Civil Liability Provision in the Texas Heartbeat Act to Create Fan Lawsuits Against Professional Athletes, 127 Penn St. L. Rev. Penn Statim 77 (2022).