(NewsNation) — A high school football player who was injured in a fall during a 2021 practice will receive $31 million from a Southern California school district in a settlement.

“The district has taken responsibility for its failure to address the dangerous conditions of its field that harmed many children for more than a decade,” said Jesse Creed, one of the attorneys representing Emanuel “Manny” Garcia.

His attorneys said the boy, who was 15 at the time, suffered a “life-altering brain bleed resulting in a traumatic brain injury with severe cognitive defects and emotional harms” when he fell during a routine practice on what the attorneys say was a negligently maintained field.

“Manny went from a top student to barely passing and suffered a lifetime of mental, physical, and emotional challenges,” his lawyers wrote in a news release.

The lawyers and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District negotiated for two years before agreeing on the settlement in August.

“Over the years, we have made substantial improvements to our fields and athletic facilities, and we remain dedicated to their ongoing maintenance,” district spokesperson Annette Franco wrote in an email to The Los Angeles Times.

“I want to thank the football coaches and program for standing by me,” Garcia said. “Every school district should make sure the football fields are safe to play on so that this terrible thing never happens again.”