Mkeichan V. Louis Hockey Club Case Study

McKichan v. St. Louis Hockey Club, L.P was a 1998 personal injury case that made its way up to the Missouri Court of Appeals. The incident in question occurred on December 15, 1990 during a minor league hockey game between the Peoria Rivermen and the Milwaukee Admirals in Peoria, Illinois. The Peoria Rivermen is a subsidiary club of the defendant. The injury in question occurred during the third period of said hockey game when the plaintiff, who at the time was a goaltender for the Admirals, was knocked unconscious by a Rivemen skater who had body-checked him. While body checks are common in the game of hockey, the manner in which this particular body check occurred opened itself to question of whether it should be seen as something more criminal. The Rivermen player’s body check on McKichan occurred not only after the puck had flown into the stands, signaling a stoppage of play, but also after the referee had blown his whistle twice to gesture that play has stopped. After the incident the Rivemen skater, who had injured McKichan, was immediately ejected from the game and later suspended. To recover for his …show more content…
Louis Hockey Club L.P. listed as the defendant. I was perplexed why and how an entity, that wasn’t directly involved in the game, could be seen as liable for injuries that occur in the aforementioned game. I still had difficulties understanding this concept when I learned that the club of the player who caused the injury, the Peoria Rivermen, is a subsidiary of the defendant. I wondered why the Rivermen club itself wasn’t listed as the defendant. A month on, I now understand why the St. Louis Hockey Club L.P, was the defendant of the case. Since they were the entity that owned the injuring players club, who are just a subsidiary of a larger organization, they would have to be the entity that would be held responsible in the event of a negligent act by an employee representing their