Seton Hall has answered former star Myles Powell’s lawsuit, which alleges the team’s head coach and medical staff acted negligently by having him play on a serious injury, ruining his hopes of an NBA career.
The university said Powell’s claims aren’t even worthy of addressing in earnest. Instead, Seton Hall filed a motion that contends Powell’s case has no legal grounds and the school is asking the case be dismissed. The motion is scheduled to be heard Sept. 7 in U.S. District Court in New Jersey.
“[Seton Hall is saying], they don’t even get an answer from us because this lawsuit has no merit,” attorney Rich Lomurro, who is familiar with the case, but not involved in it, told The Post. “It’s not an uncommon tool to use in these kinds of cases.
“You don’t even get your day in court, that’s what they’re saying to Powell. You don’t even get to have your allegations heard.”
Powell, 24, claimed in his suit on July 14 that Seton Hall, coach Kevin Willard and athletic trainer Anthony Testa allowed him to play with a torn meniscus in his knee. They told him, Powell alleges, that it was a minor injury and would not worsen as he played the 2019-20 season. He claims they acted with negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. That season, it should be noted, Powell was the Big East Player of the Year and a consensus All-American, but went undrafted, though he had been projected to be by draft experts.
In its brief, the university, represented by Patrick Papalia of Archer Law, wrote that New Jersey’s Charitable Immunity Act is grounds for dismissal, since it protects schools such as Seton Hall under its umbrella from the kind of liability in Powell’s complaint. Lomurro, a Seton Hall alum, compared it to someone getting hurt at a YMCA. The YMCA can’t get sued by the person even if he or she gets injured while using the charity’s services, negligence or not.
“It is a very strong immunity in New Jersey and cases are commonly dismissed based on the Charitable Immunity,” Lomurro said.
As for fiduciary duty, Seton Hall claims that under New Jersey law, there isn’t fiduciary duty between a school and student or coach and student. Regarding breach of contract, Seton Hall wrote: “Plaintiff has failed to state a claim for breach of contract [the National Letter of Intent] because Plaintiff has not identified any provision of the contract that was allegedly breached, and an examination of the contract reveals that it does not even remotely contain the contractual duties that Plaintiff alleges and claims existed and were breached.”
If Seton Hall’s motion to dismiss is denied, it will then have to address Powell’s claims. If it is granted, Powell and his attorneys can appeal it in New Jersey’s Appellate Division. But they would still need to overcome Charitable Immunity.