United States District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant of the Connecticut federal circuit lifted the discovery stay in a concussion lawsuit against the WWE on Friday, January 15, 2016. While many similar lawsuits against the wrestling company were transferred and consolidated before Judge Bryant over the last few years, the stay was lifted here only in regards to the claims filed by former wrestlers Evan Singleton and Vito LoGrasso.
Discovery will be limited, however, to allow the plaintiffs the opportunity to determine whether the WWE knew about the risks of long-term neurological problems resulting from repetitive brain injuries for wrestlers since the mid-2000s. The court is not, in other words, granting full discovery in the matter. Other perimeters as laid out by Judge Bryant include: determining whether World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. had a duty to disclose concussion risks to the plaintiffs, whether it breached that duty generally, and whether any such breach continued beyond the plaintiffs’ wrestling careers for the company.
Currently, the parties are waiting for Judge Bryant to rule on the WWE’s motion to dismiss the claims of the former performers for being meritless and time-barred; the stay of discovery was originally granted until the dismissal motion was determined, but the court has now changed its mind to allow the plaintiffs an opportunity to more fully develop their claims. Under the new discovery plan, the window for fact-finding will remain open until the first of June of this year.
On the same day, the WWE filed a reply brief in support of its motion to dismiss another case against it. That case was filed by former wrestler Nelson Frazier, Jr.’s widow, where it was argued that the entertainment company contributed to Frazier’s untimely death last year by promoting him to live an unhealthy lifestyle in order to maintain the persona of an overweight fighter.
Coupled with the WWE not doing anything to prevent or warn against head trauma during his performing career, Frazier remained morbidly obese into his retirement and suffered from a host of medical issues after his wrestling days were over, according to his widow’s response to defendant’s motion to dismiss from December. Frazier suffered a life-ending heart attack in 2014.
In its reply brief in support of dismissal, the WWE argues that the theory it contributed to the wrestler’s weight issues was not pled in Frazier’s complaint and therefore cannot be asserted now. Originally, the complaint claimed the WWE was responsible for Frazier’s death because he was diagnosed with CTE, a disease common in athletes who suffer repetitive head trauma and concussions, which can only be diagnosed through a post-mortem examination of the victim’s brain. The WWE also re-iterated its point that the case should be dismissed because the allegations are time-barred as a matter of law.
Rulings in both cases are expected to be handed down sometime this year.