Comp Bar Ends Suit Against Pro Football Teams
A Federal Judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed against 32 NFL teams on the basis that the allegations are barred by state workers’ compensation exclusive remedy provisions.
The suit was first brought by thirteen plaintiffs in May 2015. Lead plaintiff Etopia Evans, widow of the late Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens player Charles “Chuck” Evans, filed the federal class action against every NFL team. Venue in the case was transferred from Maryland to Northern California in March 2016.
The lawsuit alleges the NFL teams conspired since at least 1964 to allow trainers and team doctors provide players with unprescribed pills and injections, sometimes mixing them in “dangerous cocktails,” in order to get them back into games and without warning them of the long-term side effects. The defendants argued that the plaintiff’s exclusive remedy was through state workers’ compensation claims. The court agreed.
Judge Alsup found retired football players could only seek relief through workers’ compensation, because their claims against three NFL teams did not fall within narrow exceptions to the well recognized exclusive remedy limits to employer civil liability and that the plaintiffs failed to present facts showing the NFL teams intended to harm players in an egregious manner.
WorkersCompensation.com has an analysis of the case.
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