Lawsuit: NCAA, ACC ‘Recklessly Disregarded’ Dangers of Football-Related Concussion Injuries

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The NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) are the defendants in a proposed class action lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of deceased former University of North Carolina (UNC) football player Ryan Hoffman. The lawsuit alleges the defendants have, for decades, known about the crippling, long-term effects of concussions, concussion-related injuries, and sub-concussive injuries caused by playing college football, yet “recklessly disregarded” this information to protect its purportedly amateur college football business.

“While in school, UNC football players were under [the defendants’] care,” the lawsuit reads. “Unfortunately, [the defendants] did not care about the off-field consequences that would haunt their students for the rest of their lives, ultimately leading Ryan Hoffman and others to end their lives.”

The case charges that despite a vast and regularly cited body of research on the dangers of traumatic brain injuries, the defendants failed to timely put in place adequate procedures to protect football players.

According to the lawsuit, in mid-November 2015 Hoffman rode his bike into oncoming traffic on an unlit highway in Haines City, Florida, where he collided violently with a vehicle. After his death, an examination of Hoffman’s brain found he suffered from the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a condition generally found in individuals who have experienced repeated head trauma. 

The complaint notes Hoffman sustained a number of concussive and sub-concussive blows while playing for UNC, after which he “would often quickly be returned to the field of play, if removed from play at all.”