Players

Judge Orders NFL to Reveal More About Concussions

When the National Football League and retired players settled a class-action lawsuit about brain damage in 2015, the agreement raised as many questions as it answered. The $1 billion question: What did the league know? Because the settlement was reached without the evidence-gathering process known as discovery, the NFL did not have to reveal what it knew about the long-term effects of repeated …


Former University of Virginia Receiver Alleges Hazing, Abusive Culture in Football Program

University of Virginia football players staged a gladiator-style fight between a pair of incoming freshmen, a dangerous hazing incident that resulted in a concussion and jeopardized the career of a promising young receiver, according to a federal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. For weeks this past the summer, upperclassmen had taunted, …


Former Ducks Basketball Players Refile Lawsuit Against University

As expected, three former University of Oregon basketball players have refiled a federal lawsuit that alleges they were treated unfairly and wrongly punished by UO officials after a female student accused them of an off-campus sexual assault in 2014. U.S. District Judge Michael McShane dismissed the players’ suit against the UO in September but ruled it could be refiled if numerous …


NFL Concussion Deal Challenged at High Court

The National Football League’s $1 billion concussion settlement should be rejected, according to a Supreme Court petition filed Sept. 26. The deal unfairly denies compensation to some former players and circumvents due process standards for class action settlements, the petition says. The settlement would create a compensation plan for more than 20,000 former …


Supreme Court Petitioned to Block $1 Billion NFL Concussion Settlement

The National Football League may be hoping this case gets swept under the rug and isn’t met with much public consumption moving forward. But a group of former NFL players and their lawyers are resilient in their efforts to not only bring the concussion issue to light, but force the league to pay out a larger sum. A settlement agreed to by the NFL and former players required the league to pay …


Tennessee School Officials Knew of Athlete Abuse

A lawsuit by a Tennessee high school basketball player who was raped and assaulted by teammates claims school officials knew athletes were being abused but did nothing. The victim, identified only as John Doe, was a freshman at Ooltewah High School in December when he was held down by two older players while a third forced a pool cue into his rectum, tearing his bladder. Last week, one of the …


Judge in Minor-League Wage Lawsuit to Reconsider Motion for Class Certification

Less than a month after he denied a motion by minor-league baseball players to classify their lawsuit against Major League Baseball as a class action, the U.S. district court judge presiding over the case has given the plaintiffs a second chance. In an order issued Aug. 19, Judge Joseph C. Spero granted a motion by the plaintiffs to reconsider his order to deny class certification in the case, …


Class-Action Lawsuit Accuses Pop Warner of Endangering Youth Football Players

A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Pop Warner football of not monitoring games, practices, rules, equipment and medical care “to minimize the long-term risks” associated with brain injuries and repetitive hits to the head, according to court documents obtained by The New York Times. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in California, takes on the nation’s largest youth football …


Concussion Settlement Objectors Drop Their appeal

Three years to the day after the NFL and thousands of former players reached a tentative settlement in a massive concussion class action, the settlement is finally official. Via the New York Post, Monday came and went without the former players who opposed the settlement filing a petition for appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, ending the case and allowing the settlement to proceed. “It’s been …


Appeal of Concussion Settlement Will Indeed continue

More than three years after the NFL and a class of thousands of former players agreed on terms of the settlement of the concussion class action, the settlement still won’t be finalized. Contrary to a report in the New York Post that the remaining players objecting to the deal had failed to file petitions for appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court by Monday’s deadline, at least one petition was …