Former College Football Players File 15 More Head Trauma Class Actions

Fifteen separate class action lawsuits were filed this morning in Indiana against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and multiple athletic conferences and universities by former football players who claim athletes and the public were intentionally kept in the dark regarding the effects of repeated concussions and head trauma to “protect the very profitable business of ‘amateur’ college football.”

“Over time, the repetitive and violent impacts to players’ heads led to repeated concussions that severely increased their risks of long term brain injuries, including memory loss, dementia, depression, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), Parkinson’s Disease, and other related symptoms,” the complaints say. “Meaning, long after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological events that could slowly strangle their brains.”

In addition to the NCAA, the suits’ defendants include:

The named plaintiffs, which include former football players who played for Division I programs across the country, say the NCAA and the conferences had a duty to safeguard the wellbeing of student athletes. For decades, the plaintiffs allege, the defendants knew that severe head impacts had long-term consequences, yet actively concealed this information despite the word of doctors and researchers warning of the risk of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

Moreover, the plaintiffs in each suit allege that when the defendants eventually did adopt policies pertaining to concussion recognition, management and treatment in line with accepted scientific evidence, it was simply too little too late.

“Rather than inform their student-athletes of these risks or implement protocols to protect and safeguard them from TBI-related injuries,” the lawsuits claim, “defendants failed to meaningfully adopt the internationally accepted guidelines regarding concussion management and return to play protocols until 2010.”

Each of the plaintiffs, who played for their respective schools before the NCAA implemented its concussion protocol in 2010, individually allege that they sustained numerous concussions during practices and games and did not receive adequate medical treatment. In many instances, the plaintiffs returned to the field quickly after getting hurt.

The lawsuits seek to cover include individuals who played football for the defendants and the specific universities mentioned in the complaints between 1952 and 2010.

Litigation against college sports’ governing body, athletic conferences and universities is not a new phenomenon, with a $75 million settlement against the NCAA being approved by a federal judge just last summer. In fact, even as this settlement was being finalized, former players filed six class actions related to concussion damage earlier in 2016, with another tidal wave of lawsuits landing on the NCAA’s doorstep in late summer and September, just before the season kicked off.

Here are some links to the lawsuit complaints for your perusal:

Thomas Sullivan v. Pac-12 Conference

Fredrick Pettus v. University of Richmond

James Bozeman v. Southeastern Conference

Conredge Collins v. American Athletic Conference

Derrick Dudley v. Atlantic Coast Conference

Gary Gray v. University of Notre Dame

Marcus Clayton v. Syracuse University

David Odom v. National Collegiate Athletic Association

Charles Wysocki v. Atlantic Coast Conference

Antjuan Tolbert v. Sun Belt Conference

Geoff Donner v. Mid-American Conference

David Harley v. American Athletic Conference

Eric Towe v. Mid-American Conference

Chad Williams v. National Collegiate Athletic Association

Mark D. Courtney v. National Collegiate Athletic Association