Penn State declined comment on a class-action suit brought against it, the Big Ten, and the NCAA on Tuesday in a federal court in Illinois, saying it has not yet reviewed the case.

The suit is one of six that were brought nationwide by attorney Jay Edelson of Edelson PC, and they targeted the SEC, Vanderbilt University, and others. The one involving Penn State has seen the most action to date, as less than 24 hours after news first broke of the suits, the court filings have already changed.

Here’s what we know, and don’t know, regarding the suit.

The first filing

The original court documents, first obtained by the Centre Daily Times and later by PennLive, listed former Penn State safety James Boyd, former Lions’ linebacker Eric Ravotti, and former PSU defensive back Robert Samuels as the named plaintiffs in a class-action suit against the three aforementioned parties, claiming that:

“[F]or decades, Defendants Penn State, Big Ten, and the NCAA knew about the debilitating long-term dangers of concussions, concussion-related injuries, and subconcussive injuries (referred to as “traumatic brain injuries” or “TBIs”) that resulted from playing college football, but actively concealed this information to protect the very profitable business of “amateur” college football.” 

The court documents also alleged that all three players now suffer “from deficits in cognitive functioning, reduced processing speed, decline in attention and reasoning, loss of memory, sleeplessness, and mood swings, among other issues.” 

It’s a claim that Raviotti denies.

The full filing can be found below.

Former players from Auburn, Georgia, Oregon, and Utah also filed class-action suits, though those filings did not include the school as a defendant because of how public universities are treated by law in some states. Those suits only included the conference and NCAA as defendants. 

Boyd, Raviotti drop out

News first surfaced regarding the suits in reports from CBS Sports, the New York Times, and USA Today among others just after lunchtime on Tuesday. But less than 12 hours later, Boyd put out a statement saying he was no longer taking part in the lawsuit, and on Wednesday morning, Ravotti did the same.

“I have requested that my name be removed from a class-action law suit filed recently against Penn State, the Big Ten Conference and the NCAA by a Chicago attorney,” Boyd wrote in a statement obtained by PennLive. “When I was contacted about joining this action, I was not made aware that either Penn State or the Big Ten Conference would be a party to the suit and neither was named in the paper work that I signed. I did not intend, and do not support, inclusion of the University in this suit.”

Similarly, Ravotti also said he did not know Penn State would be a part of the suit, adding that he did not even know of his involvement in it until Tuesday night. His full statement read as follows:

“I have absolutely no interest in joining any lawsuit which attempts to defame Penn State University,” Ravotti wrote. “I have not given direction, nor executed anything authorizing myself to be involved in this suit in any way. I was contacted by an attorney who saw my name on a list of players and wanted to discuss the case, but the case was never explained nor what my involvement would have been had I agreed. I feel this has severely misrepresented who I am and am outraged that my name would be used to try and further a case which not only I do not understand, but have not given authorization to be involved in. Currently, I do not suffer from any “cognitive functioning, such as memory and mood swings” and find this statement utterly ridiculous in my case. I do have concerns about the many concussions I had during my playing days, but that is something I will deal with if it ever happens. To suggest this when it is a statement that I have never made, is utterly ridiculous. I cherished my time at Penn State and would never attempt to detract from this experience. I valued my time when I was there and still do today on my many visits to the school and the games. This misrepresentation is one that is in the process of being corrected. I have asked this attorney for the suit against the NCAA to remove my name from this suit as I had never agreed to join in the first place.” Edelson reacts
Following Boyd’s and Ravotti’s statements, Jay Edelson, who filed the suits, put out a statement through a spokesperson. It reads:

“I was troubled to hear reports that Mr. Ravotti and Mr. Boyd suggested that they were unaware that we were including Penn State in the class action lawsuit we filed over concussion related symptoms.  Our team would, of course, never file a lawsuit without a very clear understanding that our clients saw any proposed complaint, understood our strategy, and wished to undertake the solemn duties required to lead a case of this magnitude.  

Unfortunately we cannot share the full substance of our communications given our duties to honor the attorney client relationship.  

We will say more generally that we know that suing institutions as powerful as the NCAA and its member institutions is not an easy task. Mr. Ravotti and Mr. Boyd have indicated that they do not wish to lead that fight. Yesterday we filed papers to remove Mr. Boyd, and today we will do the same for Mr. Ravotti once we receive his permission to do so. Luckily, there are many more people who are willing and able to step into their shoes and continue these incredibly important lawsuits which seek to compensate the tens of thousands of student-athletes whose lives have been upended by concussions.”

So why is Samuels pressing forward?

In an interview conducted with attorneys from Edelson and representatives from public relations firm Zumado, Samuels, 46, told PennLive that some of his medical issues date back to his last year at Penn State, adding that he now suffers from dizziness, headaches, memory loss, irritability, mood swings, and “a lot of what I would call mental issues.”

Unlike the previously named plaintiffs, Samuels said he is moving forward despite Penn State being named as a defendant in the suit.

“The issue is that the overall awareness; it’s an issue of the university or the program being fair, the issues of athletes not continuing to go through the same things the athletes of the past have gone through; it’s going to open me up to the ridicule in the eyes of some people, but I think it’s a necessary step in what needs to be done to make things better,” Samuels said.

Asked why he decided to pursue the suit in the first place, he said that:

“I did the research trying to figure out the symptoms and some of the illnesses and deterioration that I’ve noticed in myself, trying to figure out what those things were and what the possible causes were, and that’s when I became part of it.”

“I think the awareness of what’s happening at the college level, creating monetary, the mental and physical abilities of the athletes before and after, things that can progress into equipment manufacturers creating equipment that’s possible to prevent injuries of that nature , and just an overall awareness of the days that wining at all cost, even to the detriment, have to be gone,” he said when asked of his goals for the suit, adding that:

“My thing is just, for me, I think it’s important for myself and for my family to understand why I’m having the issues that I’m having, what type of symptoms and things that I need to look for in the future, and also to have access toward resources that can help me as things begin to progress more.”

What we don’t know.

There’s no timeframe for when the various suits, Penn State’s and/or others, will move forward in a court of law, and it’s unknown who, if any, named plaintiffs will be added to the suit going forward.

It’s also unclear what sorts of damages the suit is requesting; court filings only clearly define a desire for class-action status and a jury trial at this point in time.

The original court filing is below. An updated version that does not list Boyd and Raviotti will be provided when made available.