Christina Spicer  |  May 6, 2021

Category: Health - Fitness

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NCAA Knew of Concussion Risks to Football Players Alleges Class Action Lawsuit

An Otterbein college football player says that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) knew of severe concussion risks to athletes, but failed to warn them in “reckless disregard” of their safety.  

Lead plaintiff, Anthony Edward Thomassey, filed the class action lawsuit in Indiana federal court Thursday seeking to represent other Otterbein football players who participated in the program between 1952 and 2010. In it, he claims that the NCAA exposed thousands of student-athletes, football players in particular, to severe health risks associated with repeated concussions until at least 2010.  

Thomassey says that he played on the Otterbein football team as a cornerback between 1987 and 1990. He claims to have sustained countless hits and numerous concussions as a result of playing college football. Thomassey alleges that the NCAA, an organization that grosses hundreds of millions of dollars each year and purports to exist to protect student-athletes, failed to implement sufficient concussion management protocols.  

Thomassey says he now suffers from a host of health issues he believes are connected to his college football concussions and other injuries including memory loss, loss of concentration, impulsiveness, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. Thomassey claims that the NCAA failed to implement proper concussion protocols, despite overwhelming evidence of the risks of head injuries, that would have protected him and other football players from serious long-term side effects.  

For decades, Defendant NCAA knew about the debilitating long-term dangers of concussions, concussion-related injuries, and sub-concussive injuries (referred to as ‘traumatic brain injuries’ or ‘TBIs’) that resulted from playing college football, but recklessly disregarded this information to protect the very profitable business of ‘amateur’ college football,” says Thomassey in his complaint.  

The class action lawsuit alleges that hundreds of thousands of student-athletes sign up to play the game each year in front of millions of viewers who fill stadiums and tune in. Thomassey says that he and other college football players are encouraged to “live and breathe” football and do whatever it takes to win; however, he says that, due to the intense popularity of college football, the NCAA hid an “epidemic” of deadly health issues linked to the hard hits and concussions players experience at each game.  

“Over time, the repetitive and violent impacts to players’ heads led to repeated concussions that severely increased their risks of long-term brain injuries, including memory loss, dementia, depression, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (‘CTE’), Parkinson’s disease, and other related symptoms,” contends the lawsuit. “Meaning, long after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological events that could slowly strangle their brains.” 

The class action lawsuit alleges that the NCAA, founded in 1906, has known about the seriousness of concussions and other head trauma since at least 1933 when the issue was discussed in its Sports Medicine Handbook. Thomassey also points out in his complaint that the organization halted college boxing in 1960 after the long-term risks of head injuries were revealed to the public, but the organization failed to implement changes to its policy for football players until 2010, long after the serious risks of neurological trauma were known to it and the public. 

The class action lawsuit accuses the NCAA of putting the popularity and profit of college football before the health and safety of student-athletes. Thomassey is seeking to represent other Otterbien college football players for claims of negligence and fraud. The class action lawsuit seeks to hold the NCAA responsible for present, past, and future damages on behalf of Class Members.  

This is far from the first class action lawsuit the NCAA has faced over its stance on concussions in college football. Numerous NCAA class action lawsuits were filed in 2019 all seeking to cover student-athletes who played football for universities across the nation.

Did you or a loved one play football in college? Do you think the NCAA hid the concussion risk? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.  

The lead plaintiff is represented by Jeff Raizner of Raizner Salina LLP, Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, and Benjamin H. Richman of Edelson PC. 

The NCAA College Football Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is Thomassey v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, Case No. 1:21-cv-1136 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.  

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