Football Star’s Family Sues NFL for Hiding Brain Injury Risks
A former professional football star’s tragic suicide has taken another turn, with his family suing the National Football League for wrongful death, accusing the league of hiding the true extent of the risk of brain injury to its players, the Associated Press reported.
Seau’s Family Claims His Death was the Result of Brain Disease Due to Years of Collisions
Junior Seau was professional football player from 1990 to 2009. Seau retired from football in 2010. Just two years later, he fatally shot himself in the chest. Seau’s family now claims that the emotional state that caused the football star to kill himself was the result of brain disease brought on by years of collisions he incurred playing the sport. Tests conducted on Seau’s body after his death revealed that he had developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Family Argues the NFL Either Ignored or Concealed Traumatic Brain Injury Risks
The family, in the lawsuit, which was filed in Superior Court in San Diego, claimed that Seau developed CTE from the two decades of delivering and receiving hits in his head area. The family argued that the league either ignored or concealed the dangers, of which it was aware, to players as a result of recurring blows to the head. The science had existed for decades. “Since the 1950s and 1960s, a substantial body of medical and scientific evidence has demonstrated neuro-cognitive injuries in the sport of football as a result of” mild traumatic brain injury, the complaint stated.
TBI Dangers Are All Part of the NFL Game, According to Family
Furthermore, the league’s motivation in ignoring or hiding the dangers to its players was strictly economic, the family alleged. The league raked in billions of dollars using a marketing strategy that “propagated the false myth that collisions of all kinds, including brutal and ferocious collisions, many of which lead to short-term and long-term neurological damage to players, are an acceptable, desired, and natural consequence of the game, and a measure of the courage and heroism of players involved at every level of the game,” the family asserted. The league was invested in hiding this danger because it “knew or suspected that any rule changes [to address brain injury risks] would impose an economic cost that would significantly and adversely change the profit margins enjoyed by the NFL and its teams,” the complaint stated.
Helmut Manufacturer Also Named in Suit
Also named in the suit was Riddell, Inc., the company which manufactures helmets worn by NFL players. The family’s complaint stated that the Riddell helmets worn by players like Seau were unreasonably dangerous and unsafe. The helmet maker was negligent in the manner that it carried out its designing, testing, assembling, manufacturing, marketing and engineering of its helmet, the family claimed. “You can’t deny it exists, and it is hard to deny there is a link between head trauma and CTE. There’s such strong evidence correlating head trauma and collisions and CTE,” Seau’s ex-wife, Gina, told the Associated Press after doctors first diagnosed the late football star with CTE.
While few people work in an environment like Junior Seau did, everyone can reasonably expect to be able to have a workplace free from potentially fatal dangers that employer knows of, but hides to maximize profit margin.
Talk to Our San Francisco Brain Injury Attorneys
If you’ve lost a loved one, or experienced a traumatic brain injury, contact our knowledgeable San Francisco wrongful death attorneys and traumatic brain injury atorneys to discuss your matter. Our San Francisco wrongful death attorneys are knowledgeable in this area of law and experienced at handling these important cases.
Boone Callaway is a personal injury & medical malpractice lawyer in San Francisco who has been working with clients in the Bay Area for over 25 years. Mr. Callaway is one of only a few personal injury litigators in San Francisco who is a Super Lawyer, AV Rated and is also a member of ABOTA – American Board of Trial Advocates.
