A Portland, Oregon woman has filed a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of her son and against the Lake Oswego School District for an incident during a youth league basketball game two years ago. Therese Heaton has alleged that the District was negligent when it didn’t provide adequate protection for her son Nicholas Rhodes, who she said suffered a concussion and traumatic brain injury when he hit his head on an unpadded wall during the basketball game.

Specifically, The Lake Oswego Review detailed how this Oregon personal injury lawsuit explained how now 14-year-old Nicholas jumped up to block a shot during a fifth-grade basketball game when he lost his balance, fell headfirst into the unpadded, cement wall behind the out-of-bounds line and was immediately knocked out unconscious. Heaton added in the personal injury lawsuit that her son now suffers from a permanent injury that impacts his balance, hearing, vision and cognition

According to the personal injury lawsuit, the district should not have allowed children to even play on the court without first providing a safe environment and putting pads on the walls to lessen physical impact. In addition to the school district, the Lake Oswego Community School, Youth Basketball Association and Traveling Basketball Association were respectively listed as defendants. Heaton is seeking $13,000 in medical and other expenses and an additional $500,000 in non-economic damages, according to documents described in the story.

School district attorney Peter Mersereau said that the district will contest some of Rhodes’ injuries and his mother’s allegations. Specifically, the district alleges that Rhodes’ injuries were caused in part due to his own negligence because he did not look out for his own safety during the game. The district claimed that it was not liable because Rhodes signed a medical consent and release of liability form in order to play in the game.

The story did add that Mersereau and Heaton’s attorney David Sugerman both said that they expect the lawsuit to be settled out of court within a couple of weeks. This trial is set to begin on May 15^th. We’ll keep you updated on any developments with this Oregon personal injury lawsuit.