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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They got paid very well, some in the millions, to bang their head into each other and the ground. Of course now they claim it never occured to them and everyone should have told them that always bashing your head is not a good thing. They knew the risk but for the money were willing to take them – they shouldn't cry like little babies now. As to getting dementia – my dad never played football and has dementia!!!!!!!!!
headline should read "2,000 idiots hellbent on destroying the sport that made them wealthy." these players WAIVED their right to complain and ASSUMED THE RISK when they volunteered themselves for the NFL draft and signed with a team. those should be the only defenses the NFL needs right there, waiver and assumption of risk. if these people ruin the fans game, they should be wary because the fans will take away that wealth with pitch forks and flames
ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK. case closed.
So whats next? A lawsuit by boxers claiming they didnt realize that punching each other in the head for the duration of their careers was unhealthy? The lawsuit should be quickly tossed and every player who signed on should be replaced. They really shouldnt be working in such a dangerous environment. Spoiled little kids basically. Fight for a job that pays millions and then sue saying its too dangerous. Wah, wah.....
I'll bet most of these players who are suing the NFL are now out of money, they found the lawyer who is willing to put the blame on someone else so they can sue, if the NFL didn't have the money, the lawyers wouldn't bother.
Glad that the brutality of this sport is beginning to have costs that will mean something to those with influence. Any guesses about its impact on the benevolence of our society? All those stadiums would make fabulous terraced urban gardens.
Hopefully this leads to the natural death of football. It's been proved now that high school aged kids are the most vulnerable to long term brain damage from repeated blows to the head, even those that don't rise to the level of concussions. Any parent who lets their kid play football is either uninformed or unconcerned.
Football is a sports where even if you play it completely by the rules, you still stand a very high probability of walking away with a long term life-threatening illness/injury.
Time to create robots to play in place of humans. There's goes every dumb oversized persons dreams of achieving anything.
So now that the "Risk" information is public, just how many players have decided not to play this year because of the newfound information?
I know of one football player that told his son to stop playing HS football and there are more parents aware of it and trying to avert their kids from the sport.
Just when I thought I couldn't care less about a bunch of overpaid whining idiots...
I don't get it. It is common sense that if you play a game like this that there will be physical consequences. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out – the NFL should not have to warn the players. They are adults when they signed on and certainly should have known that the possibility exists. Take personal responsibility! I used to work for a plaintiff personal injury attorney – I quit because I couldn't stand the fact that there are too many people out there who blame everybody else but themselves. (Before you trounce on me, let me say that I do believe there are some instances where filing a claim is the right thing to do, but not here.)
Duhh, I didn’t know I could be injured playing professional football. Duhh, can I sue over my torn ligaments too? Duhh, I thought it was safe like knitting. D'oh!
Why stop at the NFL. They should sue the colleges, high schools, youth leagues and their parents as well. Did they think this was a safe sport to play. I think they should eliminate all full contact sports then so the taxpayers wont eventually foot the bill for their injuries by way of higher insurance premiums.
For all of those playing the defense lawyer of the NFL: Really? Did you know about the consequences of playing American football? For sure? Did you know about the likelihood (in percent) of having permanent brain damage as a result of playing football? I am sure you don't. It is so big that football should be regarded as an extremely risk activity and be forbidden, at least in schools and among underages.
Being a footballer is not like being a fireman, where you know more about the risks and where the activity is a social need. But football? C'mon... American Football is just the modern Roman circus for the rednecks.
Count yourself amoung the morons that don't understand the risk.
They tried to protect players by making tougher helmets. The problem was the momentum not the helmet. We need to go back to thin helmets that hurt the wearer when they use their head as a weapon. Just look at the films from the leather helmet days and you can see how they carried their bodies completely different and never tackled with a spear move.