Community Education Sports
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit filed in wake of 2023 Fish Bowl
A federal judge last month dismissed a lawsuit filed in the wake of the 2023 Fish Bowl football game between Peninsula and Gig Harbor.
The judge’s ruling found that Peninsula School District, then-Peninsula High coach Ross Filkins and an individual Seahawks player were not liable for an injury sustained by a Tides player during the game.
U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle granted a motion for summary judgement filed by the district, Filkins and the former Peninsula player.
Settle dismissed the suit “with prejudice,” meaning the plaintiff cannot re-file the lawsuit. They could attempt an appeal, however.
The Key Peninsula News was the first to report the lawsuit’s dismissal.
2023 Fish Bowl
A former Gig Harbor High quarterback sued the district, Filkins and a former Peninsula player in 2024 after the Tides quarterback sustained serious injuries during the chaotic 2023 Fish Bowl.
The injury occurred after the Tides QB threw an interception. During the interception return, the Peninsula player named in the lawsuit made a devastating block on the Gig Harbor quarterback.
The Tides player suffered a concussion, broken jaw, cuts and lost a tooth. Game officials penalized Peninsula 15 yards for a late hit, but did not eject the Seahawk player from the game.
Emotions ran high among coaches, players and fans during and after the game. According to a 2023 investigation conducted by the school district, assistant coaches who were on the field during the game described a “riot atmosphere” and said teams and fans were “seconds away from a fight.”
It was the last Fish Bowl played at Roy Anderson Field in Purdy. The school district moved the 2024, ‘25 and ‘26 editions to the larger Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma.
‘His claims all fail’
The Gig Harbor player’s lawsuit alleged that the Peninsula player committed assault and battery on the play; that Peninsula coach Filkins encouraged his players to “engage with the quarterback following an interception”; and that the school district was negligent in failing to take steps to prevent a serious injury.
Settle dismissed the suit in a 35-page decision.
“High school football is a violent collision sport. Players routinely block, tackle and make serious physical contact with one another, and even when the game is properly coached and played, personal fouls and injuries can and do occur,” Settle wrote.
“Even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to (the plaintiff), his claims all fail as a matter of law. There is no evidence that (the) late hit exceeded the risks inherent to the game of high school tackle football. There is also no evidence that Filkins instructed his players to ignore the rules or play the game in such a way that increases the risk of harm to others.”
Settle’s decision notes that a game official who was near the play penalized it as a “personal foul for a late hit” that happened “a couple of seconds after the play was ended.” If the block had not been late, the referee “would have had no foul,” according to the decision.
“If the contact was not serious enough to require ejection under the rules of the game, it is difficult to characterize it as so reckless that it fell outside the range of ordinary football activity,” Settle wrote. “At most, the evidence shows a late hit warranting a penalty — not conduct giving rise to tort liability.”
Settle also found “no evidence that Filkins coached his players to target quarterbacks after the play had ended.”
Aftermath
The Gig Harbor quarterback missed much of the rest of the 2023 season following the injury, though he returned to play in the Tides’ final game. He later started the 2024 Fish Bowl at Mount Tahoma.
Filkins remains Peninsula High School’s athletic director. But he stepped down as the Seahawks’ football coach in December 2024 after 30 years on the sidelines. He told Gig Harbor Now at the time that his resignation was not related to the Fish Bowl lawsuit.