Parents Respond to Pop Warner’s Attempt to Exit CTE Suit

On December 2, 2019, Kimberly Archie and Jo Cornell (plaintiffs) filed their response in opposition to Pop Warner’s motion for summary judgment. Archie’s son, Paul, and Cornell’s son, Tyler, participated in Pop Warner Youth Football between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Both young men passed away in 2014.

In an evaluation from Boston University, it was revealed that the young men suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). In 2016, the plaintiffs filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, …

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NHL Reaches Concussion Settlement with Class of Retired Players

On November 12, 2018, the NHL announced a tentative $18.9 million settlement with a class of over 300 retired NHL players. As we have previously reported, in June, 2018, former NHL players, Dan Carcillo and Nick Boynton, led a class of retired players suing the NHL claiming that they “suffered multiple serious head traumas during [their] NHL career that were not recognized, diagnosed or treated, and improperly diagnosed and treated.” Further, over the years, while the NHL has dealt with the problematic issue of …

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Ex-Wrestlers Try Again at WWE Head Trauma Suit

On November 3, 2017, former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) wrestlers filed an amended complaint for their concussion suit against WWE. The amended complaint is in response to a Connecticut federal judge allowing the wrestlers last month to file more succinct pleadings, despite stating she was more inclined to side with WWE. The case goes back to 2015 when WWE faced several lawsuits that alleged WWE concealed long-term health risks of repeated blows to the head and increased that danger by misleading injured wrestlers into …

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NCAA and Student-Athletes Request Final Approval of $75 Million Settlement

On September 29, 2017, former student-athletes asked the Illinois federal court to approve the $75 million settlement against the NCAA for head trauma. With the reports of young NFL players diagnosed with brain damage after death, the former student-athletes insist that the medical monitoring part of the deal cannot come soon enough. The final approval hearing is scheduled to be heard before the judge in November.

The former student-athletes argued that the settlement is ready for final approval because the evaluation of the student-athletes’ claims …

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NFL Acknowledges Link Between Football and Brain Disease

There has been a lot of recent publicity regarding the NFL, concussions, brain disease, and player safety. This longstanding attention reached a surprising point on Monday, March 14, 2016 when the NFL’s top health and safety officer acknowledged a link between football-related head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

This acknowledgment arose during a concussion discussion assembled by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. During this discussion, Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president, was asked if there was …

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Deceased NHL Player Suffered From CTE; Family to Sue NHL

On Tuesday, May 12, the Canadian Sports Concussion Project released a report confirming that deceased NHL player, Steve Montador, suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), prompting his family to continue with a lawsuit directed at the National Hockey League.

Steve Montador died in February at the age of 35 and had agreed to submit his brain for testing before his early death. Like many other professional athletes who’ve died young and been diagnosed post-mortem with CTE, Montador suffered from depression, erratic behavior, and memory loss …

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NHL Hit Again With a Concussion Lawsuit

On Monday, February 9,  yet another concussion related lawsuit was aimed at the NHL by former players seeking damages for the NHL’s alleged failure to protect and warn players about the long-term effects of head trauma.

The lawsuit, filed in Minnesota District Court, joins several other previously filed lawsuits alleging similar claims against the NHL.  The 29 plaintiffs in the new complaint, including Manny Legace and Butch Goring, is set to become part of the multidistrict litigation before Judge Sue Nelson that consolidated the previous …

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WWE Becomes Latest Sports League to Face Concussion Litigation

On Thursday, October 23, Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment was added to the growing list of sports organizations facing concussion related litigation.  William Albert Haynes III, a former WWE wrestler, brought suit against the corporation with allegations similar to many other concussion lawsuits: that the WWE concealed and denied the medical research showing the effects of head trauma.

Haynes, known by his stage name “Billy Jack Haynes,” makes claims that follow most other concussion lawsuits claiming negligent misrepresentation, negligence, and liability for …

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