Correcting Some Pro Football Talk

This morning, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com penned a piece claiming, “yet another concussion lawsuit was filed.” Florio is a smart guy and he does an excellent job reporting and/or re-reporting.

However, after reading the article I figured it would be best if I corrected some of the statements made. To be clear, this is not an attack on Florio.

As I reported more than two months ago, Michael Haddix et al v. NFL was filed in Camden County Superior Court.

As the standard procedure goes when a concussion-related lawsuit is filed in state court, the NFL will remove the case to federal court.

On May 25th, the NFL filed a notice of removal, which moved the lawsuit to the District of New Jersey. This sets the path for the lawsuit to be consolidated with other 68-plus cases already in Philadelphia.

Next, the citation of Kevin Kolb returning to play after having a concussion is not new.

Almost every lawsuit filed by the Locks Law Firm, and other lawyers that used that complaint as a template, cites to the Kevin Kolb incident.

Florio then goes on to say, “it’s hard not to wonder when a current player will roll the dice and join the concussion lawsuit parade, or when a former player will pursue a class action on behalf of men who are still playing the game.”

Although the majority of lawsuits do not purport to represent current players, the first class action filed in federal court, Ray Easterling et al v. NFL, does seek to represent a class of all current NFL players:

Sub-class E. All current NFL players who have in the past and/or will in the future experience a concussion like symptom while playing or practicing and who, until now, have not been properly monitored, assessed, evaluated or otherwise examined to insure that any transitory or permanent injury is properly recognized, diagnosed and treated before allowing return to play.

Nonetheless, Florio’s point is well taken. The lawyers have purposefully omitted naming current players in the lawsuits because it would bolster the NFL’s argument that this is fundamentally a labor dispute.

Whether a current player will actually join the lawsuits has yet to be seen. But, my hunch is that the NFLPA has told its players not to join the concussion lawsuits.

Respectfully, “the NFL concussion guy!” (h/t Scott Andresen)