A former USC linebacker dropped his lawsuit against the university that alleged school officials assisted him in purchasing a disability insurance policy that left him with inadequate coverage after he was hurt.
The Los Angeles Superior Court website stated that Morgan Breslin’s case was dismissed Thursday by Judge Yvette Palazuelos. The minute order for the case did not indicate whether the case was settled or if Breslin was not pursuing the case for other reasons. Prior to the dismissal, the judge had been scheduled to hear USC’s motion to force the case into arbitration.
The attorneys could not be immediately reached.
Breslin filed the complaint in August 2015, alleging breach of contract, fraud and both intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic relations. The suit filed Friday seeks unspecified damages.
Now 25, Breslin was designated an exceptional student athlete for the 2013-14 season as part of an NCAA program that encourages athletes to stay in school and complete their degree program while being offered the chance to buy disability insurance, the suit states.
An insurance broker known to USC for offering quotes for athletic insurance policies proposed to the university staff in January 2013 that Breslin obtain a policy through AmTrust at Lloyd’s, his court papers said.
According to the suit, Breslin was injured while playing for USC on Sept. 28, 2013, and as a result could not play professional football.
The suit alleged that USC employees falsely led Breslin to believe that the AmTrust policy would protect him in the event he had a career-ending injury while playing for the Trojans. The university staff went so far as to advise him how to fill out the forms to obtain the policy, according to the complaint.
USC did not tell the underwriters about Breslin’s injury and did not inform the plaintiff they had not done so, the suit states.
USC was responsible for explaining the risks and benefits of athletic insurance policies to the student athlete, the suit stated.
Breslin made a claim under the AmTrust policy in May 2014, but AmTrust denied it seven months later and filed a lawsuit in New Jersey asking that it be declared void, the suit stated.
Breslin was briefly a member of the San Francisco 49ers after signing as a free agent in May 2014.
— City News Service