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
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What's silly about all of this is that most cases probably are't legit. They'll blame any medical problem they have as a result of their playing time. Sure, many might very well be a result of their playing time, but just because someone suffers from depression or insomnia or begins to get alzheimers is no reason to think it's absolutely because of concussions. This is just a bunch of guys trying to get paid...many of which are probably a bunch of bums who never made anything of themselves other than playing in the NFL.
Michael Brown, the flaw in your arguement is that no one hid that information from you. The NFL was determined to say that head trama had nothing to do with problems down the road for any of these players. Suppose you worked in a factory and the factory had harsh chemicals that cause folks illness, you went to your doctor and your doctor was told to say that your sickness was unrelated to your work environment. Then after so many years of working in the same environment you got gravely ill and was unable to work. Then you found out years later that the company you worked for lied and paid doctors to lie to you about your illness. How would you feel?
You pretty much nailed it Michael. These washed up has been's were living high on the hog with their crazy salaries and now they are flipping burgers or scrubbing floors only see a new way to get more millions. Show me on football player that has played in the NFL that thought he would never get injured and I will show you the dumbest dude on the planet......
There is a risk when playing almost any sport. Like you can't figure out that playing football is dangerous. You sure took the big bucks didn't you, and now you want to sue. Sorta like smoking and then blaming the tobacco company. Stupid.
You are misguided the players who played in the NFL prior to 1980 did not make millions of dollars. They made less than 50K a season. Please stop placing the players of yesterday with the guys of today.
How much evidence do we need to see before we refuse to be spectators?
Are we not co-conspirators with the NFL, pooling our money to bribe young men from poor backgrounds with life-altering sums of money, to bash each other to death for our weekend entertainment? Even if the young men are weak enough to be willingly bribed, what honor is there in being their paymaster? How is that any better than 'helping' desperate teens turn tricks on backpage?
If I'm passing judgment, it is on myself. Like many, I've spent a lot of money directly on NFL goods and services over the past 20+ years. And now I'm starting to realize the terrible things we purchased with that money.
I hear what you're saying and I respect your opinion. That being said, and I'm the same way, football fans are fans of football for a reason: the big plays and the big hits. It's the same as in hockey when someone gets checked into the boards. It's violent and exciting. Football fans are passionate about the sport for this reason.
Players know what they're getting into playing at this level. It's about the payday and that's it.
Two things are for certain here Lou:
1. No one held a gun to the player's head and said "Sign this, you get paid and you'll never get hurt"
2. No one held a gun to your head and forced you to buy merchandise.
I feel no sympathy for these clowns that are suing. You knew the risk. You chose to ignore it.
Best thing for them to do is shut it down and let the players try and get a real job...
Well, they cry that they're hurt...but isn't the fact that they could get injured, ending their careers, the very reason they are so overpaid?? Just saying...
Take responsibility for the choice you made...you decided you wanted to play football, you knew you could be injured, so shut the h**l up and live with the choice you made. Only in America is someone else responsible for choices made by others.
they filing suit with the ncaa and their high schools as well? sadly i am willing to be many of these men are the same ones who are saying that the rams shouldn't be punished for the hitting scandal.
HUH? You have a head injury too? Da heck you rambling about? Rams? Try the Saints. Geeesh
To everyone saying, "The players knew the risks when they entered the league". Well, not really. See, the NFL created a committee in the 1990s to study head injuries (The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Commitee). They started publishing results in the 2000s, and amazingly (and with some flawed data) they somehow found that NFL players didn't show declines in brain functions after suffering consussions. In 2007, they said "Current research with
proffessional athletes has not shown that having more than one or two concussions leads to permanent problems..."
Ummm, what??? So to everyone saying they knew full and well what they were getting into, um, no they didn't because the organization paying them told them they had no long term health risks to worry about.
Also to the "they knew what they were getting into" crowd.
There are plenty of dangerous workplaces out there: Construction sites, mines, mills, power plants, etc... Just because these workers know they are working in a dangerous field doesn't mean they can't sue if it turns out that the company ignored years and years of safety warnings and didn't do the necessary things to ensure a safe workplace.
Yes, football is a violent sport, but for years the NFL did nothing to prevent head shots and concussions. In fact, they made the helmets even bigger and heavier over the years, giving defensive players more reason to lead with their head. You know what else is a violent sport? Rugby, but guess what, they don't have the concussion problems the NFL has because since players don't wear helmets, they don't use their head to spear players, and it's a RULE in Rugby that you must attempt to wrap up when making a tackle.
If the NFL had made it a rule that players must attempt to wrap up when tackling, and had done studies on their helmets and changed the material from a hard outer shell to a more compressive material that protected the players head without making it a weapon for a defender to use when tackling, the number of concussions in the NFL would drop dramatically.
You are absolutely correct and great strides have been made. However, they have no case as it wasn't the NFL's fault. There was no case of negligence here. The NFL has done a great job in recent history. For those who have legit health issues as a DIRECT result of their concussions...that's unfortunate. However, to the many who are likely just scamming the system trying to blame every health issue they have on the NFL, shame on them. I don't care about these 2000 guys though. They should just lay off. The NFL has done a great job in recent hitory under roger Goodell in improving the playing conditions and educating about concussions although so many current players shrug it off like it doesn't matter. Let's just hope the current players wake up and realize that concussions are a serious issue.
This is reminiscent of the lady that sued McDonald's for the Hot Coffee spilling in her lap. The jury was dumb enough to side with her, so now everybody wants money for the adverse outcomes of their own choices. The NFL isn't responsible for their injuries...the players are. They all make enough to get their own medical assessments, so why should the NFL have to provide them with anything? It's a dangerous sport, accept it, or don't play...period.
"This is reminiscent of the lady that sued McDonald's for the Hot Coffee spilling in her lap. The jury was dumb enough to side with her, so now everybody wants money for the adverse outcomes of their own choices. "
Pendulum23, you realize that lady had THIRD DEGREE BURNS and needed skin grafts, right? Not to mention the fact that McDonald's had thousands upon thousands of complaints of coffee burns, and did absolutely nothing about it.
The fact that the lady accidentally spilled the coffee was irrelevant to the fact that the coffee was served at an unsafe temperature. Sooner or later, someone was bound to get seriously hurt by it.
If it had been YOUR grandmother who had to get skin grafts all over her legs and private parts thanks to McDonald's unsafe practices, I think you'd be singing a different tune.
We have to borrow from foreign nations just to meet our social security obligations. It won't be much longer before we can no longer afford gladiator games. (the high cost of security and gladiator pay led to the downfall of Roman sports)
What a joke!!! This is one of the problems with the United States. Greedy people who should know better...
They don't mind acting the Big Shots.. look at me I play ball for the money. Womanizing, Cocaine and alcohol use is okay too. Count the cost before you take on a career. May we that use computers all day, need to sue for our eye sight.
I don't get this. Are they suing the NFL for something that should have been an obvious assumption? What a joke!
Forgot to add....Are college players going to be able to sue the scholls they attended too?
They get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for 16 games a year (assuming no playoffs). Many of them receive millions a year for the games. Some receive millions per game. I thought the reason behind the high pay was that their careers will end early through injury or when they become too old to play well. Every rule change the league has added for player safety (mostly Quarterback related rules) have been complained about by players.
You get paid an insanely inflated salary to take hits and dish them out. If you don't understand that you could get a neurological injury as a result of being repeatedly hit over and over and over again for years then you're a m0r0n who deserves the brain problems.