Tennessee Titans’ Cheerleaders Named Defendants in Concussion Lawsuits

Last month, a “unique” concussion lawsuit was filed against the NFL, which named several Clubs as a defendant.

The lawsuit, initially filed in state court in Hillsborough County, targeted six teams and, evidently, a cheerleading squad. According to the NFL, the plaintiffs sued the wrong party in their attempt to name the Tennessee Titans. Instead of suing the NFL franchise, the plaintiffs sued the Tennessee Titans Entertainment Inc., which solely employs the cheerleaders.

Despite this screw up by the plaintiffs’ lawyers, they will probably amend their complaint by dismissing the cheerleaders and adding the property entity, Tennessee Football Inc.

In addition to this perfunctory error, the plaintiffs’ lawyers also failed to communicate with their client, Jimmie Giles. Giles was already a named plaintiff in one of the first concussion lawsuits, Barnes v. NFL. In fact, his lawsuit is currently pending in Philadelphia, and his other lawyer, David Rosen, recently filed a short-form complaint on his behalf.

Meanwhile, as per the usual procedure, the NFL removed the lawsuit to federal court and it is now requesting that it be transferred and consolidated with the other concussion cases pending in Philadelphia.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers will attempt to argue that the case should be remanded back to state court since it is “different” than the others.

The NFL, however, argues that this lawsuit is just like the other 130 concussion lawsuits. The lawsuits all share common questions of fact and law, mainly the threshold issue of whether the players’ claims are preempted by the collective bargaining agreement.

In the coming weeks, the Panel on multidistrict litigation will determine if the case should be transferred. In all likelihood, the case will eventually be sent to Philadelphia.