National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury
Litigation, No. 2:12-md-02323
In an effort to understand business law I decided to write my legal research paper
on a subject I find most interesting, football. I’m going to focus this paper on the
recent National Football League (NFL) Concussion settlement case.
Professional football is known to be a game based on the idea of toughness and over
the past several years many have learned that this intense game can lead to serious
health problems long after playing if affected by head injury.
Dr. Bennet Omalu and Dr. Robert Cantu in 2005 researched three-deceased NFL
player’s brains that suffered from numerous health problems after they retired from
the NFL. Dr. Omalu and Cantu published a report that all three former players
suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and this can be directly
related to the head-trauma they suffered from during their career as professional
football players. The NFL heavily rejected the report and former players began to
take notice and proceeded to take legal action against the NFL on the basis of the
NFL being liable for not warning players about the possible health problems that
come along with playing professional football.
In 2013, the NFL gave Boston University a million dollars to become the main brain
research center for the NFL. Ann McKee and Robert Stern tested 79 deceased NFL
players and out of the 79 brains 76 of them showed signs of CTE and the NFL
responded that they did not accept the research and also reserve the right to contest
the research on all fronts in any litigation. The NFL provided research done by a
professor at the University of California, San Francisco that discredited the Boston
University research.
The NFL reached an agreement with eighteen thousand former players paying
$765M dollars for compensation, medical bills, and research. Numerous former
players sued the league for not properly informing them about the negative
health-benefits that comes from head trauma ensued from playing professional
football claiming negligence on the part of the NFL.
This settlement has increased the awareness of concussions in not only professional
football but also on other levels such as high school and college. Additionally, the
settlement has provided awareness for other sports. An example of this increase
would be the recent $70M dollar settlement the NCAA had with its former players in
all sports regarding head-trauma and concussions. Although, settlements are being
