BJJ student wins $46 million after being paralyzed

[ItsArun]

https://jitsmagazine.com/jiu-jitsu-...JhpmtXyVI9jgyNorgYq9gicFmLOlY&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

“While practicing with Iturralde, Mr. Greener was placed in the turtle position — a position where a person is balled up on all fours with his face down on the mat. If an opponent is in a turtle position, the goal should be to safely put that person on their side known as “taking the back.” Instead, while positioned on top of Mr. Greener, Iturralde crouched on the balls of feet, pinned Mr. Greener to the mat, immobilized Mr. Greener’s left arm, and then launched himself up and over his opponent placing his entire bodyweight on Mr. Greener’s neck. The extreme force of the maneuver crushed Mr. Greener’s cervical vertebrae causing the student to fall limp, paralyzed in all extremities.”

“That resulted in Greener suffering a severe spinal injury that left him hospitalized for months, where he was placed on a ventilator and underwent several surgeries. He underwent an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion of C5 corpectomy, titanium cage, and posterior spinal fusion from C4-C6. He also suffered multiple strokes that resulted in him requiring a left vertebral artery stent.”

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

launched himself up and over...so did he jump on this guys' back/neck? I've just recently got back into jiu jitsu and having trouble visualizing what he did. either way that sounds like he did some insane move. horrible thing to happen

 

[Krimzon]

first day of training, paralyzed

 

[milliniar]

Sounds like someone tried to get fancy to show what could be done.

 

[beat...people...up?]

and they say there's no money in BJJ

 

[Solidus Snake]

Man, this all sounds horrible beyond words. How can a seasoned black belt competitor pull out such incautious shit? I don't understand very well how justice work over there and the article isn't very clear on this either, but I guess he'll be punished.. right?

 

[ChickenBrother]

Man, this all sounds horrible beyond words. How can a seasoned black belt competitor pull out such incautious shit? I don't understand very well how justice work over there and the article isn't very clear on this either, but I guess he'll be punished.. right?

Yeah what a horrible situation all around. I'm trying to picture WTF even happened - from the description, it sounds like instructor had a seat belt grip (or possibly a wrist ride + lapel grip) from top turtle, and just jumped over attempting to roll bottom guy into a back take... except bottom guy was an untrained super awkward white belt spaz with an unconditioned neck, and he reflexively resisted going over and got his neck cranked underneath.

I'm surprised there was no liability waiver in place. Especially in California, I'd expect any gym owner would require that before stepping onto the mat. Regardless, no way a non-celebrity BJJ guy is worth anywhere near $46MM. Even if he appeals this and gets it reduced, he's basically fucked for life (just like the plaintiff) - whatever he earns for the rest of his life will get garnished and provided to the plaintiff toward the payout.

 

[ooitzoo]

Yeah what a horrible situation all around. I'm trying to picture WTF even happened - from the description, it sounds like instructor had a seat belt grip (or possibly a wrist ride + lapel grip) from top turtle, and just jumped over attempting to roll bottom guy into a back take... except bottom guy was an untrained super awkward white belt spaz with an unconditioned neck, and he reflexively resisted going over and got his neck cranked underneath.

I'm surprised there was no liability waiver in place. Especially in California, I'd expect any gym owner would require that before stepping onto the mat. Regardless, no way a non-celebrity BJJ guy is worth anywhere near $46MM. Even if he appeals this and gets it reduced, he's basically fucked for life (just like the plaintiff) - whatever he earns for the rest of his life will get garnished and provided to the plaintiff toward the payout.

Fun fact: your liability waiver is generally against "reasonably known risks" (I am sure the legal language is more descriptive). That means, you cannot waive liability for outcomes that you (or, more accurately, a reasonable rational person) cannot otherwise expect to happen. Like say your instructor jumping on your next with your head against the floor.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Fun fact: your liability waiver is generally against "reasonably known risks" (I am sure the legal language is more descriptive). That means, you cannot waive liability for outcomes that you (or, more accurately a reasonable rational person) cannot otherwise expect to happen. Like say your instructor jumping on your next with your head against the floor.

I'd suspect this is the case in CA but I'd think it varies greatly by state. It's been awhile since I looked at mine but I know it's more comprehensive than that. I think we can agree the instructor is a moron for attempting a move like that on a complete noob.

 

[ooitzoo]

I'd suspect this is the case in CA but I'd think it varies greatly by state. It's been awhile since I looked at mine but I know it's more comprehensive than that. I think we can agree the instructor is a moron for attempting a move like that on a complete noob.

Yes, of course its more comprehensive. But I believe the principle is applied substantially in all states. Its really meant to guard against unknown unknowns. For example, if the gym was built on top of a radioactive waste site or, less dramatically, a piece of the ceiling fell off an injured someone. No reasonable person expects that risk when coming into a gym and hence cannot waive that liability.

I completely agree on the second point those. The instructor must have taken lessons from Craig & Nora on taking care of his students.

 

[StopDucking]

Any idea on how much of that $46 million he will actually get?

 

[milliniar]

Any idea on how much of that $46 million he will actually get?

Bout tree fiddy

 

[Klaavical]

and they say there's no money in BJJ

 

[ChickenBrother]

Yes, of course its more comprehensive. But I believe the principle is applied substantially in all states. Its really meant to guard against unknown unknowns. For example, if the gym was built on top of a radioactive waste site or, less dramatically, a piece of the ceiling fell off an injured someone. No reasonable person expects that risk when coming into a gym and hence cannot waive that liability.

I completely agree on the second point those. The instructor must have taken lessons from Craig & Nora on taking care of his students.

I'm curious how they proved liability here, assuming defendant had signed a liability waiver (which isn't clear). From the description, we're in agreement it sounds like the instructor made a bad judgement call but it's impossible to know what really happened without having been there or seen video footage. If indeed it was a seat belt turn and back take he was attempting, I've done that many times in training and the instructor had probably done it 1000's of times without injury or incident. So he probably considered it normal course of training and had the track record to prove it. And surely he had taught many other white belt noobs and had done so without incident. And those are precisely the kinds of situations a liability waiver is supposed to cover.

I'm not saying instructor isn't responsible but from the article, we don't really know what happened or how they proved liability.

 

[ooitzoo]

I'm curious how they proved liability here, assuming defendant had signed a liability waiver (which isn't clear). From the description, we're in agreement it sounds like the instructor made a bad judgement call but it's impossible to know what really happened without having been there or seen video footage. If indeed it was a seat belt turn and back take he was attempting, I've done that many times in training and the instructor had probably done it 1000's of times without injury or incident. So he probably considered it normal course of training and had the track record to prove it. And surely he had taught many other white belt noobs and had done so without incident. And those are precisely the kinds of situations a liability waiver is supposed to cover.

I'm not saying instructor isn't responsible but from the article, we don't really know what happened or how they proved liability.

When I read the description, I pictured a Hulk Hogan style leg drop on the back of the guys neck so I agree its tough to picture exactly what happened.

I suspect between witnesses and video they were able to show how/what happened.

 

[empsim]

I don't think "win" is the right word here, I'm sure he'd rather not be paralyzed.

Crazy story though, hard to imagine how that even happened.

 

[ItsArun]

I believe this was the move:

 

[Solidus Snake]

By the way, I'm reading story is a bit different than what went mainstream yesterday. He wasn't a first class beginner.. people on Reddit says the guy is an ex wrestler who trained some MMA and also competed in grappling before. I'm also reading he had some other life threatening back incident years ago. Not that it makes it less serious, but it's better to have a more faithful context. Here the post with the infos:

 

[kahiljabroni]

Good luck collecting

 

[winterbike]

From TrumpetDan (Dan Lukeheart):

''I know a whole lot more about the incident that resulted in the paralysis of the student and a 46 million dollar judgment. Some people reached out to me privately with various bits of information. The primary thing leaked to me is video of the incident. I assume if it made its way to me, it will eventually be public and you will see it. My main takeaways are: 1. First, the video. It’s obviously horrendous it happened. I feel great compassion for the person injured and dont really have a problem that he receives money to cover medical bills and pain and suffering. HOWEVER. It is my opinion with 17 years grappling experience that this 100% a freak accident that could have happened to ANY gym….ANY instructor…and ANYBODY rolling in general. To make some judgement of Sinistro being negligent is frankly insane…especially when other mitigating factors are in play.(#2) The movement was the Leo Vieira back take. This back take can be done a number of different ways. You can jump directly over the top straight on for example…or off to the side….and with various levels of the guy somersaulting forwards. Sinistro jumped to the left side from rear turtle, which gives the head and neck room to be fine with a left shoulder roll into a sideways style rolling backtake. It wouldn’t have been one of those spectacular ones where you pull him straight over the top as you see in some of the instances in Leo’s highlights. Sometimes when Leo did it straight over like this, there were almost 2 parts of the technique…where offensive guy jumps over the top and lands in a bridge position…and then after a moment then pull the guy over. It wasn’t this. It was a bit more off to the side and intended to be one movement. An analogy is when you try an overhead/balloon sweep from guard, but you take him a tad more sideways than over the top really. Sinistros attempt here wouldn’t have been quite as spectacular as some of Leo’s. It was a rolling backtake still. Because it was a little to the left, it did give a lot of room for the head/neck to be fine, but only on the one side. This would have happened normally 99.9X% of the time, but a split second after he started the technique his partner turns his head in the exact opposite way of the path to clear the neck. It wasn’t a huge movement. It was subtle. You need to watch it a few times to figure out how it ended up in that position. He did it at the worst possible time. Sinistro already started his jump and just when his momentum translates into his partner, he had turned his neck. Since there was ample space on one side for the neck to clear, it leaves no room should the neck be the other way. It wasn’t an unintelligent spazzy reaction. It’s not clear what his intention was. It was suggested to me he was attempting a graby roll. It’s possible, but it’s difficult to surmise his intent as it happened early in what he attempted. It all went wrong so fast at the worst moment and there was no possible time to adjust on Sinistros part. This video can not be characterized as Sinistro going nuts or roid raging on the guy for going too hard either. It was just a normal roll. NORMAL. He showed immediate compassion. I read on Reddit that Sinistro admitted negligence in the trial. I don’t know how true that is, but if it is then….BULL to his own admission. He might be suffering from insane guilt and I’m not discounting he has PTSD from the experience as any normal person would have. He should be absolved of any judgment of wrongdoing by the grappling community. It…was…a….freak….accident. 2. The injured party had quite a bit of grappling experience and in no possible reality should he be described as a beginner. He had 3 years or so of BJJ and wrestling before that. He was from Baret Yoshidas gym…who is known for sandbagging white belts. You have read that he was pretty skilled on Reddit now…including from black belt who said he rolled with him and described him as a tough and competent grappler. The information about the grapplers experience level was not allowed to be submitted/discussed in trial. This is part of the basis for appeal. I agree this should have been allowed to be presented at trial as it is relevant to how and what manner Sinistro should have been rolling with him and hence if negligence was in play. ANY CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME NEW WHITE BELT TRYING CLASS AND SINISTRO DID SOME CRAZY TECHNIQUE HE WASNT READY FOR SHOULD BE REJECTED. 3. Rener Gracie is out of control money and attention hungry parasite. I need some additional clarification and details here before I can blast him properly on the merits of what he said. I know some, and it’s infuriating. Baisically Rener is putting the way that 95%+ of the BJJ community runs an academy on trial and representing his very left field views as mainstream. This has implications for ALL OF US because his side won. For expert witnesses testimony he billed at $3000/hour. He billed 42 hours. He was the charismatic and well spoken star expert witness that sealed the deal for the prosecution. I never cuss….and I want to at that. Parasite. (Clark Gracie offered expert testimony for the defense) —— If this post is mysteriously deleted and I refuse to answer questions about this, one could assume I am involved in the appeal somehow. I reserve the right to modify my viewpoint as new information and facts come to light. If this is screen shot and presented in some trial at some point, know that my expert witness testimony is billed at the rate of 1 chipotle burrito per day just to set Reners $3000/hour @$$ straight and actually represent the grappling standard of practice fairly''