The heightened awareness of concussions in sports recently has led to a development in civil rights litigation against high schools as student-athletes are injured. Now a federal judge in Philadelphia has issued an opinion that might firm up the dividing line for what kind of cases will be able to survive.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed the claims brought by a student at Downingtown High School East who was on the school's varsity soccer team as a freshman. In a pre-season scrimmage, the girl jumped to head the ball and hit another player before falling to the ground. Instead of being taken out of the game, she continued to play and headed the ball several more times, according to the opinion.

She later had headaches, dizziness, and black spots in her field of vision. She was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury at a hospital two days later.