Although the law in the Third Circuit is muddled as to how far the state-created danger theory reaches into the arena of high school sports, the appeals court declined to settle it with a case brought by a cheerleader who got a head injury during practice.
Instead, the court stuck to the narrow question of whether or not the law at the time of the incident was sufficiently clear to put the coach on notice that she would have to adhere to certain safety procedures during practice. That standard was not clear, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled, thus conferring qualified immunity on the coach.
