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A USA track and field athlete will have her appeal heard before the Indiana Court of Appeals, with oral arguments scheduled for Aug. 7.
According to the appellate court, Taliyah Brooks, who is an athlete member of USA Track & Field, Inc. has appealed the Marion Superior Court’s orders denying Brooks’ motion for partial summary judgment and granting USATF’s summary judgment motion and the trial court’s order denying Brooks’ motion to amend her complaint.
Brooks had filed, in the Marion Superior Court, a complaint against USATF after she had suffered heat-related injuries while competing in heptathlon events in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Time Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on June 26-27, 2021.
In Brooks’ complaint, she sought declaratory and injunctive relief.
Specifically, she sought a declaratory judgment that a waiver, release of liability, assumption of risk, and indemnity agreement contained in USATF’s membership documents was unenforceable in law or in equity. She also sought an injunction preventing USATF from enforcing the waiver and indemnity agreement against her if she were to raise any tort claims against USATF.
Brooks and USATF filed cross motions for summary judgment on the enforceability of the waiver and indemnity agreement.
On June 21, 2023, the trial court issued orders denying Brooks’ motion and granting USATF’s motion.
Two days after the trial court issued those orders, Brooks filed a motion to amend her complaint to add additional claims and parties.
On July 21, 2023, the trial court issued an order denying Brooks’ motion to amend her complaint.
In this consolidated appeal, the parties raise procedural challenges to whether the June 2023 orders and the July 2023 order were interlocutory orders or constituted final judgments.
Additionally, Brooks argues that the trial court erred by denying her motion to amend her complaint, granting USATF’s summary judgment motion, and denying her motion for partial summary judgment.
USATF contends that the trial court properly granted USATF’s summary judgment motion.
The scheduled panelists are Judge Melissa May, Judge Elaine Brown and Judge Rudolph Pyle, with oral arguments beginning at 10 a.m.
The case is Taliyah Brooks v USA Track & Field, 23A-PL-1685.
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