A unified lawsuit on behalf of more than 2,000 National Football League players has been filed against the league in federal court, alleging that the NFL failed to acknowledge and address neurological risks associated with the sport and then deliberately failed to tell players about the risks they faced, according to attorneys representing former players.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, unites the more than 80 pending lawsuits filed against the NFL.
“I firmly believe the NFL could have and should have done more to protect Ray. That’s why I am seeking to hold the NFL accountable,” Mary Ann Easterling, widow of former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling, who committed suicide in April after suffering for years from dementia, said in a press release. “Having lived through Ray’s struggle, I desperately hope and pray others can be spared the pain and suffering we have endured – and still endure every day.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy acknowledged the filing, but added that there was nothing new to the claim other than that it merges them all in one place.
"Our legal team will review today's filing that is intended to consolidate plaintiffs' existing claims into one "master" complaint," he said. "The NFL has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so. Any allegation that the NFL sought to mislead players has no merit. It stands in contrast to the league's many actions to better protect players and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions."
However, many NFL players have claimed they suffer from a variety of injuries because of concussions without really knowing the severity of how badly they could be hurt playing the game.
“The NFL must open its eyes to the consequences of its actions,” Kevin Turner, a former running back for the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles who has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, said in a press release. “The NFL has the power not only to give former players the care they deserve, but also to ensure that future generations of football players do not suffer the way that many in my generation have.”
Lawyers representing the NFL players cited "dementia, depression, reduced cognitive ability, sleeplessness, early-onset Alzheimer’s, and a debilitating and latent disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy" as some of the specific injuries caused by head trauma in the NFL.
“Instead of protecting the health of its players, the NFL’s response to this epidemic of brain injuries was to engage in a campaign of deceit and deception, actively concealing the risks players faced from repetitive impacts,” Christopher Seeger and Sol Weiss, co-lead counsels for the former NFL players, said in a press release. “This case is about providing security and care to former NFL players who have suffered these devastating neurologic injuries, and making the game safer for generations to come.”
Read more about the NFL's concussion problem:
NFL to require sideline test after head blows
Former NFL players: League concealed concussion risks
Film aims to show football's culture of playing despite concussions
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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I hope the whole thing caves and gets shut down, no more NFL. Not because I hate football but because these players have known the risks since Jr. High and when they signed up for that those obscene salaries that most hard working people never see in their lifetimes, they KNEW what they are getting paid for. If they don't like it, then don't play football. It is nothing more than a disgusting money grab for overpaid elitists. I say shut the doors on them and don't give them a red cent.
No sympathy for these players, they knew what they signed up for.
Bankrupt the league !! PLEASE!
Completely agree.
But we live in a culture where people don't want to be held accountable for their own decisions. Clearly there must be a way for people who are already rich and with top-notch health care, to get more moneyout of their former employers who took every reasonable precaution to protect the players who made the conscious decision to play their fruity little game.
Now if you'll pardon me, I have to go smash my car into an end-loader at a road repair site, and then sue the state because it wasn't painted in such a way where I could see it despite that I had to drive off the shoulder of the road and over 20 cones to hit it.
Oh yeah, and *ahem* "'Mericuh! Heck yeah!"
Their previous decisions were based on lies and misleading information, all with a healthy dose of BE A MAN!!! just so that anyone who questions or complains is made to look weak and unmanly. Corporations are manipulators.
It really doesnt take anyone with an IQ above an idiot to know that bashing your head repeatedly into hard objects will cause brain injury. These players are just out to make a buck.
Can you do a little homework (just a little) and find out just how big those medical bills are for those former players and if they had 'top-notch salaries and benefits' that were going to sustain them throughout retirement? Maybe you'll find out that's actually a lot of homework and the issue is a bit more complicated than you presume.
I bang my head constantly on my desk at work in response to inept management & ownership. Do I have a case for head trauma at my workplace too? Just asking. BTW – where be my shouldermapads??
If they couldn't figure out that playing football causes brain damage, then they probably had brain damage before they played football anyway.
I am politcal progressive. I usually take the side of the employees in labor/management disputes, but not in this case. No one is drafted in the NFL the way you can be drafted into the military. Football is a violent game and football players can walk away from the game at anytime. The player that want to leave might have to pay back any or all of his signing bonus or get fined by the team. A player could go get a neurologist and just walk into the GM's office and say: "I am sick of living with the pain. I am leaving the game." People like Seau just plain stayed in the game too long.
I have been a computer programmer for 31 years and some jock just out of college will sign a piece of paper and in on minute make more money than I will ever make in a working lifetime. I know that working on computer screen can be damaging to your eyes. I know that risk and I am willing to take it to make my money this way.
ATTENTION EVERYONE ! If you do not want to get a concussion, don't play football.
agreed-its like smokers suing-i didnt know when i was coughing up a lung that i t was dangerous-i didnt know that when i was slamming my head into a 300lb lineman that it was dangerous...boo hoo
Like the obese blaming McDonalds.
And like smokers blaming PM
Yep ALL the millionaires are suing. What a wonderful world we live in.
What's next? Muhammed Ali suing the WBF for his condition?
If an NFL contract stated “Playing football may result in dementia, depression, reduced cognitive ability, sleeplessness, early-onset Alzheimer’s, and a debilitating and latent disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy", everyone of these players would of still signed up to play. As this lawsuit proceeds I expect every contract from the NFL to PeeWee football have this language added.
For the most part most football players know the risk of all kinds of injuries and don't care, that's part of the game and their macho about it. In some cases the team doctors are probably told by the team owners or coach that they need these players to win the game and if they can get on the field, send them back in. If the latter is the case then the players should sue the team. To prove that could be the hard part for the players.
Dude, are you okay?