Tampa attorney Steve Yerrid, and Ambrose and Emilia Agu, speak with ESPN Outside the Lines about the death of the Agus’ son Ted, a University of California Berkeley football player who died following a pre-season conditioning drill.

The Agus had filed a wrongful death suit against the university, which has been settled. The Agus alleged their son died as a result of  reckless and negligent behavior on the part of UCB football trainers and coaches. The suit claimed Agu, who was known to have sickle cell disease, died as a result of an overly taxing conditioning drill that was inappropriate and extreme given his known medical condition. Steve speaks also about the mini-epidemic of student athletes unknowingly with sickle cell trait dying in similar incidents.

Agu’s death is remarkably similar to the death of a University of Central Florida (UCF) football player, Ereck Plancher, who also suffered from Sickle Cell Disease.  In 2011, Plancher’s family, represented by Steve Yerrid, Jeff Murphy, J.D. Dowell, and David Dickey, took the case to a three week trial against UCF Athletics Association, Inc., and obtained a jury verdict and final judgment (including costs, fees and interest awarded by the Court) that is now almost $15 million.  Despite the fact that UCF Athletics Association had $21 million in liability insurance to pay this judgment, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled that “sovereign immunity” limited the liability of the Athletics Association and its insurance company to $200,000. The Plancher family has appealed that ruling and the matter is currently pending before the Florida Supreme Court.