Midwest Employers Casualty Company on Behalf of Terry English v. Charles Harpole, Jim Carroll, Alan Kwast, Albert Lopez and Brock Pittman

**Court Rules Against Coach in Injury Case Involving School District Referees** This case involved a high school football coach who was injured during a game and sued the referees for negligence. The coach, Terry English, apparently entered a restricted area on the field and was hurt. He claimed the referees should have prevented him from going into that area or should have been watching out for his safety while they were officiating the game. The court ruled in favor of the referees, finding they had no legal duty to protect the coach from harm. The judges determined that referees are not responsible for keeping coaches out of restricted areas or maintaining constant watch over non-players during games. The court granted summary judgment, meaning the case was dismissed without going to trial because the referees clearly owed no legal obligation to the injured coach. This ruling matters for workers because it shows that not everyone at a workplace has a duty to protect others from harm. The decision clarifies that people performing specific job functions—like referees officiating games—are generally only responsible for their assigned duties, not for monitoring or protecting other adults who should know better than to enter dangerous areas.