Cheer Sport Sharks named in $2.5 million lawsuit over alleged negligence
A Cambridge athlete is suing the Cheer Sport Sharks for $2.5 million after alleged injuries during a 2016 workout left her with permanent “functional limitations.”
The Cheer Sharks have filed a letter of intent to defend legal action against them last fall over an alleged incident in 2016 in which an athlete from the former Cambridge club had “functional limitations”.
According to court documents filed in Hamilton Supreme Court in March, Shark Tank Limited, Kaitlyn Beier, Rayna Marques and Cheer Sports Sharks Limited, along with the Ontario Cheerleading Federation (OCF), filed a lawsuit against a former athlete and her Defending family is seeking over $2.5 million in damages.
Neither the OCF nor the Cheer Sport Sharks responded to requests for comment.
In October 2022, former Shark athlete Brooklyn Seftel, now 20, filed a lawsuit against the organization, coaches Beier and Marques, and the OCF for alleged negligence on behalf of the club that resulted in her suffering permanent injuries leading to functional restrictions.
The document states that during a closed exercise on February 16, 2016 at the organization’s Cambridge facility, Brooklyn “was hit in the head/neck by another participant and suffered from dizziness, nausea, photosensitivity and other symptoms of concussion.” .
Brooklyn and her teammates were practicing a pyramid formation for the provincial championships when the injuries occurred, according to the complaint. The gymnastics club relocated to Kitchener for the 2022–23 season.
Four days after her injury, the allegation said Brooklyn attended another exercise when her mother, Michelle Seftel, told Beier that Brooklyn was still suffering from concussion symptoms and asked her to be excused from the pyramid building exercise.
“Despite this request, Brooklyn was ordered to participate in the pyramid building exercise and was again hit on the head multiple times by another participant,” the claim reads.
The Seftel family alleges that the concussion and resulting impairments are a direct result of the collective negligence of the Sharks, the trainers and the OCF.
Their arguments against the OCF include: failing to ensure that its regulations and policies are followed, failing to ensure its members’ programs operate safely, failing to ensure concussion protocol in particular is properly followed by its members, and failing to exercise its members over reasonable levels Policies, Procedures and Regulations.
The Sharks and their coaches are accused of: failing to notify the Seftel family of their injury within a reasonable time, failing to follow accepted concussion protocol and/or concussion recovery guidelines, failing to properly train, supervise and monitor their coaches and failed to adequately limit Brooklyn’s participation in practice when they knew or should have known she had suffered a concussion.
According to the lawsuit, Brooklyn has suffered depression, anxiety and permanent disability as a result of her injuries.
The Seftels state that Brooklyn has suffered a loss of enjoyment of life and activities of daily living. The document claims that she was unable to take care of herself properly; to be dependent on the care of others.
Even things like going to school and working will be challenging for Brooklyn as she navigates life after injury, the document said.
“Brooklyn is unable to continue her education and as a result has suffered and will continue to suffer a loss of income, a permanent loss of her earning capacity, a loss of her competitive advantage and her working life expectancy has been reduced,” the report claim.
The family also claim to have paid for the medical expenses for these injuries out of their own pocket, including home and household expenses and related care costs.
No court date is set, but according to the Ontario Civil Claims Court, “the case must be brought in court no later than 180 days after the filing of the first statement of defense or statement of defense intent.”