NFL Concussion Lawsuit – The Full NFL Complaint
The Full NFL Complaint is in PDF form, you can read all about it here. The Strom Law Firm is representing five plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the NFL.
The NFL Concussion Lawyers at the Strom Law Firm are currently accepting cases involving NFL head injuries. Call today for a free consultation. 803.252.4800
COMPLAINT
1. This action seeks financial compensation for the long-term chronic injuries,
financial losses, expenses, and intangible losses suffered by the Plaintiffs and their spouses
as a result of the Defendant’ intentional tortuous misconduct (by voluntary undertaking),
negligence, fraud, and conspiracy.
2. This action arises from the pathological and debilitating effects of head
injuries and concussions that have afflicted present and former professional football
players in the National Football League (the “NFL”). For many decades, evidence has
linked repetitive traumatic brain injury to long-term neurological problems in many
sports. The NFL, as the organizer, marketer, and face of the most popular sport in the
United States, in which head trauma is a regular occurrence, was aware of the evidence
and the risks associated with repetitive traumatic brain injuries and concussions for
decades, but deliberately ignored and actively concealed the information from the
Plaintiffs and all others who participated in organized football at all levels.
3. Moreover, in or around 1994 and possibly earlier, the NFL voluntarily
inserted itself into the scientific research and discussion concerning the relationship
between concussions and short-term and long-term impairment of the brain. After doing
so, the NFL then intentionally and fraudulently mislead present and former players, and
all people who reasonably rely upon the NFL’s expertise about its own sport, regarding
the short-term and long-term risks posed by concussions and head trauma.
4. Rather than warn players that they risked permanent brain injury if they
returned to play too soon after sustaining a concussion, the NFL actively deceived
players, by misrepresenting to them that concussions did not present serious, life altering risks.
5. The NFL, through its own initiative and voluntary undertaking, created the
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee (the “MTBI Committee”) in 1994 to research
and ameliorate the impact of concussions on NFL players. Notwithstanding this
purported purpose, and despite clear medical evidence that on field concussions led
directly to brain injuries with tragic results for players at every level of the sport, the NFL
failed to inform its current and former players of the true risks associated with such head
trauma and purposefully misrepresented and/or concealed medical evidence on that issue.
6. Athletes who suffered repetitive traumatic brain injuries and/or concussion
in other professional sports were restricted from playing full games or even seasons, yet
NFL players who had similar trauma were regularly returned to play.
7. The NFL’s active and purposeful concealment and misrepresentation of the
severe neurological risks of repetitive traumatic brain injury exposed players to dangers
they could have avoided had the NFL provided them with truthful and accurate
information. Many of these players have suffered brain damage and latent
neurodegenerative disorders and diseases as a result of the NFL’s acts and/or omissions.