Learned friends of Mr Watkins : Number One

The recent Argentinian cases highlight the number of lawyers that must now making a good living out of football, and becoming increasingly influential in the game. Maurice Watkins is not the only solicitor out there (although it feels like it sometimes).

Jan Levinson

Jan Levinson is a leading sports litigation lawyer at Beachcroft LLP in Manchester. Beachcroft’s specialist sports litigation practice handles "the full range of commercial law and dispute resolution issues and opportunities that face clubs, sporting bodies, officials, competitors, spectators, sports goods manufacturers, stadia and insurers".

Levinson moved to Beachcroft as a partner in 2003. After leaving the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a 2:1 he had started as a trainee solicitor with Hammonds in 1990, qualified and worked himself up to a partnership in 1999.

He is variously described in the legal industry's own trade journals as a "brilliant litigator" and as having "a real talent for thinking laterally and creatively".

Beachcroft say Levinson now specialises in commercial dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on IT disputes, property claims, sports law and defamation. He also heads their licensing team, which has advised Manchester United and Lancashire County Cricket Club on various issues.

Injury Time

Jan Levinson has found himself in the forefront of the continuing attempt to establish legal liability (and compensation) for players whose careers are ended or affected by injury.

Although even the football authorities gave up attempting to assess whether a foul was deliberate or not, when they removed the term "intentionally" from Law 12 (which concerns "fouls and misconduct") the Courts are still being asked to determine questions or intent or, more commonly, recklessness and negligence.

Levinson is currently acting for ex-Manchester United footballer, Ben Collett, against footballer Gary Smith and Premiership football club Middlesbrough FC in a case which is expected to result in substantial damages.

This case follows a challenge by Smith on Collett in May 2003, which resulted in a double fracture of his leg. After successfully resolving the issue of liability, Levinson is continuing to act for Collett to establish the level of damages to be paid to the player with a trial likely to be listed for later this year.

Speaking about the case, Levinson commented, "Ben was one of Manchester United’s most talented young footballers, but the seriousness of this injury ended his prospects of a promising future in the Premier League at the age of just 18. We expect that the damage to his career and loss of earnings will result in significant compensation."

This is the second time this year that an ex-MUFC footballer has been involved in a legal battle as a result of a career-ending injury. Earlier in the year, Michael Appleton was awarded £1.5m in damages against his consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Mr El-Safty, following an unnecessary operation to repair his knee after a training ground accident. (Although, on appeal, the surgeon successfully resisted a similar action brought by West Brom, on the basis his duty lay only to his patient, not to the club).

The Collett hearing will include high profile witnesses such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Gary Neville, who also gave evidence at the Appleton case.

Levinson previously represented former Manchester United player, Chris Casper, who secured undisclosed damages for a career-ending injury from Cardiff City FC in an out-of-court settlement. Casper was playing for Reading at the time of the incident, on Boxing Day 1999. A tackle by Richard Carpenter left him with a broken fibula, tibia and cruciate and ankle ligament damage. Casper underwent a series of operations and doctors inserted five metal screws into his left leg. The case was settled in 2003 on the day it was due to go to trial when Carpenter admitted liability.

And in the early days of this sort of litigation, Levinson acted for Gordon Watson in his successful court action against an opponent whose dangerous tackle ended his career in top-level football.

In a three-day hearing at Newcastle in 1999, Watson sought damages against Huddersfield Town FC and defender Kevin Gray following a Division One game in 1997. The tackle left Watson with a double fracture which required five operations and the insertion of a six inch metal plate. Jimmy Hill, who gave evidence, claimed that the tackle was the worst he had seen in fifty years of football. Commenting in court he said, "It was clearly reckless and wild. It offended against both the unwritten as well as the written code of the game." Watson was awarded over £950,000 by Mr Justice Taylor - the highest ever award by a Court at the time to be given in such a case.

According to Watson's solicitors, Hammond Suddards, the payout made him only the second player in football history to prove negligence against another player, and liability against that player's club. (The first was in 1997 when Stockport County's Brian McCord was awarded £250,000 in damages after his career was wrecked by a high tackle from Swansea's John Cornforth).

Watson himself said, "At the end of the day I go to work. If you get injured at work things like this have to be taken into account and this is what this judgement is about today."

After the Casper case, the PFA said it would like to see players offered an alternative to the courts. A spokesman said: "Any member should know football is a highly-competitive game, but there are boundaries they should not step over. Perhaps football should have something in place which would remove the need to go to court, maybe a fund for a player who suffers from a challenge that falls outside what you would consider reasonable."

Until then there will continue to be employment for Jan Levinson and his learned friends.

Sources

Beachcroft LLB Press Release 17.05.07 and their website.
'Hard Cases' in Court, by Martin Roderick, Centre for Research into Sport and Society, University of Leicester
Telegraph & Argus, first published Saturday 8th May 1999.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Tuesday 1st Jul 2003.