Jay Edelson, who is leading the suits for the Chicago-based firm, told USA Today on Tuesday that Oregon, Auburn, Georgia and Utah were not named as defendants “because of issues involving sovereign immunity”.
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Lawyers representing former college football players who claim they are suffering from the effects of concussions on Tuesday filed six separate lawsuits in federal courts around the country against the NCAA and various schools and conferences.
In April, a federal appeals court upheld a class-action settlement created to compensate former National Football League players from the long-term health effects of repeated concussions – a deal totaling almost $1 billion.
Former Eastern Illinois football player Adrian Arrington in 2011 sued the NCAA over its handling of concussions and it resulted in a proposed settlement that provided no damages to be paid to players for injuries. The NCAA is finalizing a $75 million settlement to create a fund to test current and former athletes for brain trauma and concussion research.
But within a day after the federal lawsuits were filed, two of the named plaintiffs in the Penn State complaint, former safety James Boyd and former linebacker Eric Ravotti, said they did not want to be involved. “The lawsuits reflect copycat activity and just because they keep repeating the same arguments does not make them true”, said Donald Remy, NCAA chief legal officer.
“Defendants breached their duty to Plaintiff by actively teaching and encouraging University of OR football players to inflict head injuries on themselves and others as an effective way to play football”, said the suit, which seeks a jury trial and “damages for past, present, and future medical expenses, other out of pocket expenses, lost time and interest, lost future earnings, and other damages”.
A former OR offensive lineman is one of six players whose names appear on lawsuits filed Tuesday in federal court, accusing the NCAA, the Pac-12 and other parties of negligence in dealing with concussions. “The NCAA has a lot of liability, too, but the schools were the ones that had the most direct relationship with the student-athletes”.
“Because of attorney-client privilege we can’t go through the detail of all the communication that our team had with these two individuals but of course we have no interest in having someone lead such an important fight if their heart isn’t in it”, Edelson said.
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“We would never file a lawsuit on behalf of someone that wasn’t fully aware of the very serious and solemn duty attendant with being a class representative”, Balabanian said. “It’s not good for them”.
