Freshman Injured by Goalpost Announces Plans to Sue Yale

The lawyer of a Harvard freshman who sustained a massive head injury when struck by a falling goalpost at the Harvard-Yale football game in November announced plans last week to include action against Yale University and individual members of the New Haven Police Department in a $50 million lawsuit against the city of News Haven.

Kenneth J. Finger, attorney for Margaret M. Cimino '87, said last week that he decided to include Yale and about 50 police department members in the suit after concluding from a city investigation "that there were other parties involved and other people who should have taken action to prevent the incident."

Finger filed an initial petition against New Haven last month, charging the city with negligence in controlling the crowd at the game.

"Yale is responsible for the Yale Bowl," he said. And the city's police, he added, were responsible for keeping spectators off of the field.

But New Haven counsel Deborah Morgan insisted that only Yale was to blame.

"It's essentially Yale's responsibility to plan for these situations," she said. She added that the police officers at the game that day were off-duty and paid by the university to provide a private service.

However, Morgan said the Ciminos may have some difficulty substantiating their case in court.

"She [Cimino] came onto the field herself," she said, adding, "There is a point when people are old enough to be aware of what they're doing."

Yale's Associate General Counsel William D. Stempel said that he was unaware of the Ciminos intention to expand their claims for suit.

Morgan predicted that Finger might have the most success in suing the goalpost manufacturers.

She stressed that New Haven city officials regretted that Cimino had suffered from such "an unfortunate accident," but noted that it may be 10 years before the case is put before a judge.

Cimino was struck in the head by a goal post when she joined the crowd pouring onto the Yale Bowl field to celebrate Harvard's victory in the 100 Harvard-Yale game.

At the time, she suffered cardiac arrest and was rushed to Yale-affiliated St. Raphael's Hospital in New Haven where she remained in critical condition for several days.

But Cimino said that she plans to return to Harvard in the fall and live in Winthrop House.

Cimino added that she has been spending up to eight hours of every weekday in intensive therapy at Westchester County Medical center. She can walk with help, she said, but still has problems