Early last month on December 3rd, hall of famers Albert Lewis and Art Still and seven other former players for the Kansas City Chiefs filed a civil lawsuit, alleging the team hid the risks of permanent brain injuries from repeated concussions. The lawsuit is the first of its kind, in that its names a professional team (Kansas City Chiefs) as defendants and not the league (NFL). The claimants suffered numerous concussions between 1987 and 1993 when there was no NFL collective bargaining agreement in place.
Lawsuit Cites Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Damages Against Chiefs’ Organization
In the lawsuit, each of the nine players (plaintiffs) claims to be suffering from “post-concussion syndrome and latent brain disease.” Each plaintiff has displayed early symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease linked to concussions that has only been officially confirmed by autopsies.
Just before the start of this football season, the NFL agreed to a $765 million settlement in concussion-related lawsuits filed by more than 4,500 former players. The former Chiefs players were not members of that suit. The latest of the suits filed over concussions in the NFL is the first to be filed against an individual franchise.
Lawsuits Points to Lacking CBA and Missouri State Law
Kansas City Chiefs’ vice president of communications Ted Crews told members of the media the team was aware of the lawsuit, but had no comment. While the lawsuit doesn’t specifically claim that the Chiefs acted any differently from other teams, it contains two primary points. According to USA Today, the lawsuit builds upon the following:
“The lawsuit cites the period between 1987 and 1993 when the NFL had no collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association. The CBA had been viewed in the suits filed against the NFL as a potential stumbling block for the players because issues of health and safety were covered in it.”
“In addition, there is a clause in Missouri’s workman’s compensation law that is set to expire at the end of the year that allows employees, or players, to sue employers if the employees declined workman’s compensation. The statute only exists in Missouri.”
Dirk Vandever, one of the plaintiffs’ lead attorneys, told local reporters in Kansas City:
“I believe this is a way to say to an individual team within the NFL, ‘What did you know, when did you know and what did you do about it?”
Claims Also Cite “Quick Fixes” for Concussions and Profits over Player Safety
The suit further alleges the Chiefs were aware of the dangers of brain injuries and failed to disclose it to the players. “Defendant has known or should have known for many years that post-concussion syndrome and cognitive impairment occurs in football players,” the suit states.
The lawsuit goes on to say that rather than protecting players who sustained concussions, the Chiefs increased their risks by giving them:
“Ammonia inhalants, caffeine cocktails and/or Toradol to abbreviate the need for concussed employees to miss working time due to a brain injury.”
Toradol is an injectable, anti-inflammatory drug used as a short-term remedy to treat moderate to severe pain.
For several years, the players were even more prone to head injuries because of the concrete-like AstroTurf surface that was in place in the Chiefs’ stadium until 1994, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs claim that particular surface made the players faster and was cheaper to maintain than a grass field. Because of the heightened violence of high-speed hits, the suit alleges, the game became more attractive to fans and increased the team’s revenue.
The player’s civil suit seeks actual damages, punitive damages and court costs on counts of negligence, negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment.
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