Every box was ticked on the equipment list except the one that mattered
A charter school followed every equipment rule in the book - and still faces a negligence lawsuit over a teenage football player's injury.
An Illinois appeals court issued a split ruling on September 25 in a case against Noble Network of Charter Schools and a head coach at one of its Chicago schools, Butler College Prep.
The student was a 15-year-old sophomore when he was tackled during a September 2022 game and injured his testicles. He was not wearing an athletic cup. The complaint alleged the coach put him back into the game while still hurt. In his deposition, the student said he told the coach about the injury and was told to "man up."
His mother sued in September 2023.
The dispute turned on the gap between what was required and what might have been prudent. Butler provided everything the Illinois High School Association mandated - helmets, shoulder pads, knee pads, padded pants, mouthpieces. Cups were not on the IHSA's list.
The coach testified he knew what cups were, had worn one for baseball but never football, and left the choice to parents. He had never seen a significant groin injury in his years of playing or coaching.
The mother testified she asked her son if he needed a cup. He told her the coach said to get only cleats and a mouthguard. She went along with it, explaining she did not know much about the game.
On the willful and wanton claims, the court affirmed summary judgment for the school and coach. Following IHSA guidelines did not amount to conscious disregard for safety, even if those precautions proved inadequate. A urologist had cited medical association standards requiring cups for contact sports, but the court found no evidence the school knew those standards existed.
The negligence claims survived. The court reversed their dismissal, finding genuine factual questions still in play. The coach knew playing without a cup carried risk. The mother and her son did not. No one told them. Under the Illinois Tort Immunity Act, a school cannot claim immunity when it fails to warn of a dangerous condition it knows about but the participant does not.
For employers running athletic or recreational programs, the practical line is built into the split: clearing the bar for minimum compliance is one thing, but staying silent about a known risk is another.
Those negligence claims now return to the Circuit Court of Cook County. No final determination has been made.
