Special Article
New Legal Protections For Sports Officials In Virginia
Steve Levine, Contributor & Robert Fobian, BCN Editor
Recently, Steve Levine reached out to us here at BCN to give us an update on some legal protections for sports officials in Virginia. For those who don’t know Steve, he graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1981 and practiced law for 44 years before retiring from active practice this past January. He managed his own firm, LevineCarita PLC, which was formed in 1993 and specializes in civil litigation defense, and insurance coverage issues in Virginia, Maryland and DC. Steve’s umpired since 1997.
Since the beginning of sport itself, society has come to understand that the officials’ place within society is one of a “necessary evil”. As a practical matter we cannot have participants, coaches or spectators officiate a serious contest of sport. The rooting interest simply cannot be suppressed. Although, I was struck a few weeks ago to watch a high school tennis match and saw that players themselves called balls in or out.
In 1950, Hollywood made a film called “Kill The Umpire”. It was marketed as a comedy. Sadly, in this alleged enlightened, technological age we live in, YouTube and the like have gravely documented some truly vicious physical attacks and assaults on sports officials since the turn of the century and some incidents even preceding the digital age. We have brothers across this very association who have been victimized. That’s the dark and bad news…the good news is that Steve informed us that the Commonwealth of Virginia will be legislatively joining 22 other states across the US who now have legal protections on the books for sports officials. For those officiating in Maryland and or Washington, DC there are no legal protections currently, however Maryland is currently discussing the matter and it’s still in committee. DC has several protections for public officials that many mis-read as protecting sports officials. They do not.
Maryland State Senate Bill 112 is sponsored by Senator Justin Reedy. Steve contacted the senator for an update and Reedy has stated that the 2025 Legislative Session Ended on April 7. Further, Reedy added that his understanding is the Judicial Proceedings Committee is hesitant to give exceptions to special classes as this would then lead to other groups requesting for different statuses under the law.
Below is the legal language of the Virginia bill which will become law on July 1st:
Assault and battery; sports official; penalty. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for a person to commit a battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such individual is a sports official, defined in the bill, for an entity sponsoring an interscholastic or intercollegiate sports event or any person performing services as a sports official for a public entity or a private, nonprofit organization that sponsors an amateur sports event who (i) is engaged in the performance of his duties or (ii) is on the premises of such event prior to engaging in his duties or upon conclusion of his duties. The bill provides that such persons, upon conviction, may be prohibited from attending any such sports event operated by the entity or organization that employed such sports official for a period of not less than six months as a term and condition of such sentence.
NOTE: The penalty in this bill for this Class 1 misdemeanor (the highest class of misdemeanor) subjects the offender to punishment up to 12 months in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,500 which is in addition to the aforementioned penalty that said person, upon conviction, may be prohibited from attending any such sports event operated by the entity or organization that employed such sports official for a period of not less than six months as a term and condition of such sentence. The term “sports official” in the bill includes an umpire, referee, judge, scorekeeper, timekeeper, or other person who is a neutral participant in a sports event.
DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein is not legal advice and should not be taken as such. This is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional legal counsel.
Thank you to Brother Levine for gathering and sharing this information and please stay tuned to BCN as we will continue to provide updates as they become available.