LIHUE — The civil liability case brought by a former star Kapaa High School soccer player against the State Department of Education started Monday in 5th Circuit Court. Dakota Barnett, 21, seriously injured her knee while playing soccer with her
LIHUE — The civil liability case brought by a former star Kapaa High School soccer player against the State Department of Education started Monday in 5th Circuit Court.
Dakota Barnett, 21, seriously injured her knee while playing soccer with her Kapaa High School team at the Kapaa Armory field on Dec. 8, 2008. The injury occurred after the high school junior slid on her right leg, while her left leg grazed a metal plate that was used to hold up a temporary pole for the goal.
The metal tore a deep, seven-inch long laceration into Barnett’s knee. Her complaint says the injury has had a detrimental effect on her performance and may have cost her a future in college sports. She is suing for damages.
The trial is expected to last one week.
On day one, four witnesses testified, including Barnett’s parents, and her most recent orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Peter Diamond of Honolulu Sports Medicine Clinic and Queen’s Hospital.
Diamond said he first consulted with Barnett this past May. He said there are still uncertainties, but he believes she suffers from Patella femoral syndrome caused in part by scarring of cartilage under the knee cap.
There are also knee joint tracking concerns, but the lack of ligament damage from the MRI report gives her a good prognosis, he said. Despite the scarring, she is not a candidate for a knee replacement at this time.
But State Deputy Attorney General Randolph Slayton asked Diamond if Barnett may have aggravated her injury after returning to the soccer field one month after surgery. He presented photos of Barnett playing soccer to ask if her knees had a condition called micro-trauma from heavy stress on the knee.
He pointed to the fact that the soccer star did not see an orthopedic surgeon until a year later, and presented more photos of Barnett to ask the doctor if the style of play was stressful to the knee.
“Yes,” Diamond said, noting that no activity would also have been bad for the knee.
Barnett’s father, Rick Barnett, is also a soccer coach. He said his daughter has played competitive soccer her entire life. She has the talent, but the injury has placed her physical ability to compete at the collegiate level in question, he said.
“Now she is home and pursuing her other passions in life, like acting,” Rick Barnett said.
Barnett’s mother, Janice Barnett, testified that all six of their children played soccer at one time or another and of them played at the college level.
“Dakota’s first steps were on a soccer field,” she said. “She was in summer camps from the age of four.”
Barnett played on the island youth league and for the invitational select teams. She won team most valuable player all four years she played for Kapaa.
During the summer, she was selected to play for the Honolulu Bulls traveling team. She went with them to the West Coast Regionals twice, and once to the national championships in Virginia.
Barnett was recruited by several universities to play soccer and decided on Minot State University in North Dakota. She played for one semester, but the cold weather made the pain worse on her daughter’s knee, Janice said.
Answering a question from the defense attorney, Janice estimated the family invested $25,000 in their daughter’s soccer equipment, training, and traveling from childhood through high school.
Day two of the trial will continue with more testimony. It is a jury waived trial, with both parties in the case agreeing to present their respective cases to the court. Chief Judge Randal Valenciano will decide the matter.
