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Family of UCF player to be awarded $200K, not $10 million

(Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)

The family of former UCF football player Ereck Plancher, who died in 2008 after a conditioning workout, won’t be awarded $10 million by the corporation that runs the university’s athletic programs.

According to the Associated Press, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the UCF Athletic Association is “entitled to the same sovereign immunity that protects state agencies from paying more than $200,000 in damage” because it doesn’t “operate autonomously” from UCF, a public university.

The family was originally awarded $10 million in damages when an Orange County (Fla.) court ruled that the UCF Athletics Association was negligent in Plancher’s death, which was ruled to have been a result of complications from sickle-cell trait.

From the AP:

In their ruling, the justices said the University of Central Florida, a state agency, controlled the association's board of directors and that the school's board must approve any changes to the association's bylaws.

The association is "primarily acting as an instrumentality of the state and is thus entitled to limited sovereign immunity," the justices said.

Football player Ereck Plancher collapsed and died during a 2008 practice. His family sued the association, claiming negligence. A trial court awarded the family $10 million. An appellate court, however, ruled that the association was entitled to sovereign immunity.

The Supreme Court voted 6-0 with one recusal to uphold the lower court ruling.

The sovereign immunity puts a cap of $200,000 on such payments, but the Supreme Court told the family that it could seek more money through the state Legislature.

The family released a statement via attorney Steve Yerrid.

"The Plancher legal team and the Plancher family are obviously disappointed with the decision rendered today, and we are evaluating our next step to seek justice in Ereck's name," the statement read in part, via the Orlando Sentinel. "The decision recognizes that a claims bill may be filed seeking to have the Legislature pay the difference between the cap and was awarded by the jury. We can only hope that, if it reaches that point, the Legislature will do the right thing and compensate Ereck's family as the jury determined for his death.

"For today, we are left with reality that a wonderful, promising young man died unnecessarily and his family has still not received the justice our system promised to deliver.”

The family’s entire statement, in full, can be read here.

A UCF spokesman told the AP that the school “appreciate(s) the careful consideration justices gave to this important statewide issue.”

For more UCF news, visit UCFSports.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!