It certainly was not the last we heard of it, and it did not take long for the other shoe to drop. Just one day following the release of a New York Times article claiming extensive flaws in the National Football League’s concussion research as well as ties with the tobacco industry, the NFL was hit with yet another negligence putative class action lawsuit in Florida federal court. This lawsuit, brought on behalf of a proposed class of NFL athletes “preliminary diagnosed with a disease linked to brain trauma,” makes substantially similar allegations to those brought before it.
The new suit, however, relies heavily on the Times’ findings as bases for its claims. It notes that confidential data indicated at least 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from concussion research performed by an NFL committee between 1996 and 2001. Further, Tim Howard, attorney for the named plaintiff Tracy Scroggins, issued a statement on Friday which including the following:
NFL players and the public were intentionally misled by faulty data and science using similar tactics employed by Big Tobacco … Justice requires that the NFL be held accountable for its fraud and conspiracy in hiding the truth of [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] from repeated head trauma to players.
In total, the complaint makes claims of “concealment, civil conspiracy, [] negligence … and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.” The NFL, however, refuted the Times’ allegations and criticized the investigation in a statement issued on Thursday within hours of the release of the original article. It remains to be seen how these developments will affect other currently pending litigation, but it will be worth paying attention to. A more in-depth discussion of the Times’ article and the NFL’s response can be found here.