Cal settles for nearly $5 million in Ted Agu wrongful-death suit
Cal has reached a $4.75 million settlement with the family of Ted Agu in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
Agu's family filed the suit after he died after an offseason conditioning workout in February of 2014. Cal had admitted earlier this year to negligence regarding Agu's passing. He was 21.
The settlement also includes provisions to Cal practices in all sports. From SFGate.com.
“The University is glad to have reached a resolution with the Agu family, as it has been a difficult process for everyone involved,” Dan Mogulof, a UC Berkeley spokesman, said in a statement.
Beyond the monetary provision that will be paid to Agu’s family, the deal guarantees health and safety reforms for Cal athletics, some of which campus officials began on their own volition following Agu’s death Feb. 7, 2014.
With the settlement, coaches will not be able to use “high risk physical activity” as a punishment, and superiors will review workout and conditioning plans. Under the deal, coaches and team doctors will also increase their education of sickle cell trait and the medical complications that can stem from it.
The memorial to Agu at Cal will also be kept. His teammates had said in depositions pertaining to the lawsuit that Agu had been struggling and had fallen multiple times during the drill before team officials came to his aid.
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Agu had sickle cell trait and his family, as part of the lawsuit, said he shouldn't have been participated in such a high-intensity conditioning drill, which involved a heavy rope and running up an incline repeatedly. Studies have shown that those with sickle cell trait can be more prone to heat stroke and other deleterious effects when doing high-intensity exercise.
Doctors had initially determined Agu's death was because of a heart condition but after more fact gathering via statements from other players, the primary cause of death was changed to "exercise collapse associated with sickle cell trait" and "hypertrophic cardiomyopathy" was listed as an other condition.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
