(WWE) claiming that the entertainment company hid the long-term effects of neurological injuries from the wrestlers and failed to provide them with necessary medical attention and support. The 53 plaintiffs in the complaint, filed in US District Court in CT on Monday (18 July), also have claimed to suffered from brain-related injuries after participating in wrestling matches.
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“WWE placed corporate gain over its wrestlers’ health, safety, and financial security, choosing to leave the plaintiffs severely injured and with no recourse to treat their damaged minds and bodies”, the complaint said.
WWE, in a statement, called the lawsuit another attempt to hold it liable by a lawyer who had two earlier lawsuits dismissed and added that “we’re confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate”.
A group of former wrestlers, including Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Joe “Road Warrior Animal” Laurinaitis, are suing the WWE over head injuries. They say that the WWE’s 2006 implementation of a health and wellness program for wrestlers was a positive step forward, but it still relied on self-reporting of injuries, which never solved the “conflict of interest” at the heart of the WWE’s relationship with its talent. That rested on whether the WWE hurt performers by failing to give them information that it should have. Both the NFL (American football) and NHL (ice hockey) have been sued in recent years. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which is linked to CTE. (WWE) seeking damages for neurological injuries they say were sustained while wrestling for the organization.
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Over 5,000 former National Football League players sued the organization seeking damages for head injuries. He was a lead plaintiff in the major lawsuit filed by former players against the NFL. That’s a big part of the story here and affects whether wrestlers should have received medical protections that would have been afforded to a proper employee. “They’re independent contractors”, sports law expert Daniel Wallach told the Bloomberg. The suit cites interviews with doctors who say that they would return obviously concussed wrestlers to the ring “9 out of 10 times”.
