Riddell Claims Trimmed from NCAA Concussion Class Action

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Early this week, claims in the class action lawsuit alleging that Riddell Inc. manufactured and sold helmets to universities that failed to protect collegiate athletes from injuries were trimmed by a federal judge who determined the class definition was overbroad.

Lead plaintiffs, former college football players John DuRocher and Darin Harris, filed their class action lawsuit in October of 2013 against both Riddell and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In it, they claimed that Riddell’s football helmet design was defective because the helmets did not protect players against concussions. The plaintiffs also claimed that Riddell and the NCAA failed to warn players that a concussion could lead to brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker trimmed claims alleged against Ridell saying that it would be difficult to identify Class Members because the claims were too individualized. Judge Barker pointed out that the plaintiffs’ claims raised individual questions relating to differing state laws as well as individual medical issues. “Medical causation and personal injury allegations raise a significant hurdle that makes class treatment questionable,” Judge Barker wrote in her order. “The individualized inquiries related to medical causation described by defendants weigh heavily in favor of striking plaintiffs’ class action allegations and foreshadow a tremendous uphill battle for plaintiffs to certify a class action based on personal injuries of individual class members,” she concluded. Judge Barker dismissed the claims without prejudice, allowing the plaintiffs to resubmit a class action lawsuit that narrows the proposed Class definition.

In a separate order, Judge Barker also dismissed the class action lawsuit’s manufacturing defect claim against the athletic-equipment manufacturer, Riddell, and the plaintiffs’ request that the company establish a trust-funded medical monitoring program for all past and current college football players who wore the company’s helmets in games. The judge pointed out that the plaintiffs had failed to specify exact helmet models that they alleged were defective and that the plaintiffs didn’t show that Riddell’s helmets deviated in some way from the company’s design specifications and dismissed their manufacturing defect claims without prejudice.

Judge Barker did write that the helmets could be proven defective even though they were certified by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment and contained warnings that no helmet could possibly prevent all concussions and the plaintiffs should be provided the “benefit of the imagination” at this point in the proceedings.

The plaintiffs are represented by Irwin Levin, Richard Shevitz, Scott Gilchrist and Lynn Toops of Cohen & Malad LLP; James R. Dugan II, David Franco, Douglas Plymale and Chad Primeaux of The Dugan Law Firm APLC; Don Barrett of Barrett Law Group PA and Douglas Gill of Douglas H. Gill & Associates.

The Riddell, NCAA Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is DuRocher, et al. v. NCAA, et al., Case No. 1:13-cv-01570, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.