A former University of Kansas football player is the latest ex-collegiate to join a concussion-related class-action lawsuit against the NCAA. Former fullback Christopher Powell’s lawsuit alleges that the NCAA failed to adequately protect athletes from head trauma.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in the second week of November in the in the US District Court for Western Missouri. The suit seeks an unspecified amount in damages for Powell and several other athletes who suffered concussions and/ or other traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while playing football in college.
Suit Alleges Head Injuries were Serious but went Unaddressed
Powell is from Kansas City, Missouri. The complaint states that he suffered at least four diagnosed concussions while playing for Kansas from 1990 to 1994. Powell also alleges that after one concussion sustained during a team practice, he lost his memory for about 24 hours.
Powell claims he continues to experience notable neurological and cognitive deficits that require medical monitoring and out-of-pocket expenses. His filing joins others in the class-action suit alleging that the NCAA was negligent in its “failure to take effective action to protect players and/or inform players of the true risks associated with concussions, brain injury and brain trauma.” The University of Kansas is not a named defendant in Powell’s suit.
NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn issued a response to the media via email stating that the association hadn’t been served with the complaint as of November 19th. “However,” she wrote, “it appears to be patterned after other proposed class action litigation filed recently. It is not unusual to see this action from plaintiffs’ attorneys trying to secure a lead position in litigation of similar cases.”
As the national focus on concussions in sports intensifies, many leagues, including the NFL and the NHL, are enforcing much stricter rules on hits to the head and player safety. The NCAA has recently instituted measures to boost awareness of how to treat possible head injuries, new league legislation, and efforts to implement stricter rules on the playing field.
Like the NFL, NCAA Lawsuit Seeks Care for Ex-Players Living with Traumatic Brain Injuries
A multitude of lawsuits similar to Powell’s have been filed against the NCAA recently, including one in U.S. District Court of Chicago that attorneys are working to expand nationwide to consolidate thousands of existing plaintiffs. Powell’s suit, however, specifically faults the NCAA for failing to implement a system-wide “return to play” guideline for post-concussion treatment and for failing to deal with the coaching of tackling techniques that lead to head injuries. It also faults the NCAA for profiting monetarily while providing no post-collegiate financial aid or medical treatment to former players forced to deal with the lifelong consequences of traumatic brain injuries.
In his court documents, Powell’s complaints were listed:
“They have failed to establish known protocols to prevent, mitigate, monitor, diagnose and treat brain injuries. As knowledge of the adverse consequences of head impacts in football has grown, the NCAA has never gone back to college football players to offer education or needed medical monitoring.”
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