Referee Can Sue California For Allowing HIV-Positive Boxer to Fight

Posted by Ryan Bates on 10.27.2009

A state Appeals Court overturns former ruling, allowing a referee to sue CSAC on grounds of negligence.

The California State Athletic Commission finds themselves in jeopardy again, as the Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Bernardino County has overturned a 2007 ruling in a case where an HIV-infected boxer was allowed to fight in 2005, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The original ruling, handed down by a California State Superior Court judge, stated that veteran referee Ray Corona Sr. could not sue CSAC for failing to notify him before a June 2005 bout held in San Bernardino County that one of the boxers in the fight was HIV-positive. According to the letter issued by the commission, the fighter's blood test results had come in a week after the bout, and recommended Corona to get tested and "think about what might happen if, before you receive your test results, you engage in activities in which you might transmit one of those diseases to someone else."

The lawsuit was dismissed, ruling that CSAC is immune from any damages caused by granting or denying a license to a combatant in boxing or MMA. However, this Friday's appeal has ruled that testing for HIV, along with hepatitis-B and C, is not a discretionary decision as a license ruling would be, but instead a legal mandate.

Corona, along with his wife and co-plaintiff are now proceeding with the lawsuit, suing the CSAC for emotional distress. Both were tested after receiving the letter and received negative results. The boxer who posed the threat was not named by the appeal ruling.

CSAC spokesman Luis Farias declined to comment on the ruling, but has assured that the commission has "recently made a number of improvements to help prevent such occurrences."