NHL Seeks Dismissal of Concussion Class Action Lawsuit

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The NHL argues in a motion to dismiss a concussion class action lawsuit that ex-players have not filed for damages in time to avoid statutes of limitations.

According to the motion, state personal injury laws only allow plaintiffs to seek damages if a defendant broke the law within six years of filing, or sometimes less depending on the statute in question. However, several of the putative Class Members suffered injuries including concussions more than a decade ago.

Even though the consolidated NHL concussion class action lawsuit alleges that mild traumatic injury occurred as the result of repeated head trauma, the NHL disagrees. The organization argues players should have been aware of the risks due to the alleged clear signs of injury from concussions that include memory loss, light sensitivity and others. They cannot toll those limitations because “tolling does not apply where, as admitted in the Master Complaint’s allegations, the medical information at issue was readily available in the public domain.”

However, just as their counterparts who played in the NFL alleged in a similar class action lawsuit, recently settled for hundreds of millions of dollars, the hockey players argue that each noticeable injury was not the issue. Rather, they argue that studies dating back decades should have shown signs of the cumulative effect. Put another way, the hockey players allege that the sum of the traumatic brain injury was greater than the parts resulting from each concussion on its own.

They previously noted that they were aware that hockey by its nature is an inherently dangerous sport. However, the lack of information from the NHL kept them from making completely informed decisions about whether or not to play given the potential for degenerative brain diseases including chronic traumatic encephalitis, a disease that manifests itself similarly to early onset dementia but can only be diagnosed during an autopsy.

The NHL disagrees with this assertion, noting that there is a higher bar for plaintiffs who are seeking to allege fraud. According to the motion to dismiss, they should be dismissed because “plaintiffs have not alleged a duty to disclose or the circumstances surrounding the NHL’s alleged omissions … nor do their pleadings adequately support their assertion that the NHL somehow concealed publicly available information.”

The National Hockey League players are represented by Stuart A. Davidson of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, by Andrew G. Slutkin, Andrew C. White, William N. Sinclair, Steven D. Silverman and Joseph F. Murphy Jr. of Silverman Thompson Slutkin & White LLC, and others.

The consolidated NHL Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is In re: National Hockey League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation, MDL No. 2551, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

UPDATE: On Nov. 6, 2018, a class action lawsuit filed by hundreds of former National Hockey League (NHL) players over concussion and head trauma claims might be ending with a $19 million settlement.