Judge: School not liable for infection

Newport Independent School District isn't liable for an infection a visiting football player said he contracted on the football field at Newport High School, Campbell County Circuit Court Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward ruled.

Ward dismissed the lawsuit filed by Brycen McWilliams, a Somerset High School football player who said in November 2013 that a cut sustained during a game on the field became infected with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection. In the lawsuit, McWilliams blamed the field's artificial turf for harboring the bacteria.

Ward, in her ruling, found school boards have an immunity when performing government functions.

"Kentucky law considers the authorization and management of interscholastic athletics (like football programs) to be the performance of a government function," Ward wrote in her decision. "The court believes that any decision by the board concerning how to treat or manage the football field falls within the realm of its performance of a government function of managing athletics."

Newport Independent Schools Superintendent Kelly Middleton praised the ruling in a statement released Monday.

"Justice has been served," Middleton said in the statement. "Nothing is more important than the safety and welfare of students or persons who are in our schools or using our athletic facilities. We spent a lot of time and resources because of this lawsuit, but we knew all along that we did nothing inappropriate, unsafe or unsanitary, and we applaud Judge Reinhardt Ward's fair and impartial ruling."