Former student-athlete Serena Hodson has filed a lawsuit against the Cal State University system claiming that during her time on San Diego State’s volleyball team she suffered numerous traumatic brain injuries and failed to receive proper medical treatment.
CSU’s media relations and public affairs department deferred a request for comment to SDSU, which denied the allegations.
“The well-being, health and safety of our students is of utmost importance,” the Athletics Department wrote in a statement. “We do not comment on active litigation, however, we can confirm that the CSU is defending against the allegations in the lawsuit.”
Hodson was a full-time student athlete and a member of the SDSU Women’s Volleyball team for three years before leaving the university and filing her complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Hodson experienced her first concussion in October 2019, which kept her out of any volleyball related activities for six weeks.
After three appointments with SDSU health care providers and 41 daily symptom evaluation sheets, Hodson was cleared to return on Dec. 11, 2019.
The following October, Hodson suffered her second concussion and was out for two more weeks. According to the complaint, Hodson was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome by an SDSU health care provider.
After suffering a third concussion at home in June 2021, Hodson returned to campus in the fall and was cleared to play on August 18, the lawsuit states. According to the complaint, in the weeks leading up to her clearance, not a single daily evaluation sheet was filled out by team doctors regarding Hodsons concussion status.
Following her clearance, Hodson suffered several more hits to the head in games and practices, she alleged. According to the complaint, during the course of a two-day tournament, Hodson reported symptoms of a concussion. Despite these reports, the lawsuit states, Hodson was cleared to re-enter the game, where she was hit in the head three more times without being pulled from the game or given an assessment.
“The school should have known better. The school should have done better. She’s a kid,” said her attorney, Andrew Biren, whose Los Angeles-based firm specializes in personal injury cases. He argued that Hodson wasn’t evaluated extensively or sent for a second opinion.
The complaint also makes the case that Hodson has suffered personally and financially from the concussions through the treatment of physical injuries and lost earning potential.
In response, CSU offered several arguments in its defense in court records — for example, that Hodson signed a liability waiver and assumed the risk for any hazards or injuries — without going into detail. Additionally, CSU is planning to argue that Hodson’s claims are “diminished by the amount or percentage that said conduct, misconduct, or negligence caused or contributed to the alleged damages, should they be proven.”
Biren called the CSU response ridiculous and argued that they were blaming his client for their own responsibility of care.
“She is, last I checked, not a doctor,” Biren said. “To blame her would be ridiculous, and to say that she was cleared as some sort of positive when that is the root of the whole problem is that she was cleared when she shouldn’t have been.”
The case is scheduled for a jury trial in May 2025.
