NFL Concussion Lawsuit Tracker: 36

The Locks Law Firm continues to attract clients. Earlier this week Gene Locks filed another concussion-related lawsuit. The lawsuit is a mass tort and includes 66 former players and their wives: Jethro Pugh, et al v. NFL. This is the eighth lawsuit filed by the Locks Law Firm, and they now represent 300 former players. The Pugh suit is no different than the others, asserting counts of negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, fraudulent concealment, conspiracy to defraud, loss of consortium and declaratory relief.

Playerinjury.com has become a valuable advertising tool for the Locks Law Firm. The website’s seamless and impersonal way of signing up clients–by having the former players fill out a questionnaire and sign a retainer agreement for a 33 and 1/3 contingency fee—has surely had a profound impact on getting clients. Some lawyers involved in the lawsuits don’t think too highly of this impersonal method of soliciting and contracting with clients.

As I stated before, I don’t think we are anywhere close to seeing the end. There are now over 750 former players–roughly 781—involved, a small fraction of the thousands of former and retired players that could potentially join the lawsuits.

The lawsuits will continue to pile on, and they will slowly become “tag-along actions,” joining the multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Philadelphia.

Some notable players named in the Pugh lawsuit include Charlie Waters, three-time Pro Bowler for the Dallas Cowboys. Roger Brown a six-time Pro Bowler for the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams.  Jim Grabowski a former Green Bay Packer and radio commentator for the University of Illinois. Ervin Randle, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, known for delivering helmet-jarring hits, and for winning the so-called “Hit of the Year” Award in 1987 after leveling Neal Anderson.