Miss L Marsden v The Welsh Netball Association — 2023

Miss L Marsden brought a contract claim arising out of her role with the Welsh Netball Association’s Celtic Dragons team. The tribunal accepted that before she signed the contract she had discussed with Ms Danni Titmuss-Morris that she wished to continue playing for her university netball team, and that she was led to understand she was permitted to do so. It found there was no formal authorisation process in place and that the way the contract operated in practice meant the entire agreement clause at clause 13.1 was not conclusive.

The claimant injured her knee at university training on 4 October 2021 and arranged a private physiotherapy appointment the next day, before the respondent had its own physio in place. The tribunal held she was not in breach of clause 3.2.2, because she had been authorised to train and play for her university team and authorised training could properly be treated as part of her obligations to keep fit and play to the best of her skill and ability.

On medical treatment, the tribunal held that the claimant’s early approach to treatment was not a material breach of clause 3.3.3 in context. It found that the respondent gave her no guidance about how to manage treatment or expenditure, that she kept Ms Titmuss-Morris and later Ms Dursley informed, and that the messages between them were consistent with the respondent acquiescing in the treatment she was receiving. The tribunal distinguished that issue from the separate obligation in clause 6.1.6 for the club to arrange and pay for treatment for a Player Injury.

The tribunal concluded that the respondent was in breach of clause 6.1.6 because it should have taken responsibility for the claimant’s treatment from 5 October 2021 until Ms Dursley started on 3 November 2021. It held the respondent should have met the costs of physiotherapy before Ms Dursley’s appointment, the claimant’s MRI scan, and the operation on 22 December 2021, but it was not liable for physiotherapy costs provided other than by Ms Dursley after 3 November 2021 because those costs were not losses flowing from the breach. A separate remedy hearing was to be listed.