MDL Created for NCAA Concussion Injury Class Action Lawsuits

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Class action lawsuits accusing the NCAA of failing to protect student athletes from long-term damage caused by concussions will now be centralized in Illinois federal court, according to a Dec. 18 ruling by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict litigation.

The JPML ruled that the Northern District of Illinois, where a class action lawsuit was filed by former Eastern Illinois University football player Adrian Arrington, “is the most appropriate transferee district” for the newly centralized case than the Southern District of Indiana, which was the venue requested by Chris Walker, former University of Tennessee defensive end, who filed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA in Tennessee in September.

The ruling came after an Oct. 18 filing in the Tennessee federal court where the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) agreed to enter mediation with both groups of plaintiffs who are part of a class action lawsuit accusing the organization of failing to protect student-athletes from the effects of concussions. The panel also considered that the Arrington case “has been pending there for more than two years and is far more advanced than the other recently-filed actions. The district is also reasonably close to the NCAA’s headquarters in Indiana, where relevant documents and witnesses will be located.”

Aside from the two class action lawsuits filed by Arrington and Walker, the panel also considered potential pending tag-along actions in Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee federal courts, which made it more important to have a centralized litigation.

“Regardless of the scope of the putative classes alleged, all actions share common factual questions concerning the NCAA’s knowledge of the risks of concussions in football players and its policies governing the protection of players from such injuries,” the order stated. “These actions share factual questions relating to allegations against the NCAA stemming from injuries sustained while playing sports at NCAA-member institutions, including damages resulting from the permanent long-term effects of concussions.”

The pending NCAA concussion lawsuits are all seeking medical monitoring for punitive classes of former student-athletes at NCAA-member schools who allege they suffered concussions. Plaintiffs allege that the NCAA concealed information about the risks of the long-term effects of concussion injuries.

“Centralization will eliminate duplicative discovery; prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, including with respect to class certification; and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel, and the judiciary,” the panel said.

The panel also decided that product liability claims against helmet manufacturers, like Riddell Inc., should remain separate from the Illinois MDL.

“Nevertheless, the Panel did discuss whether the liability claims against the helmet manufacturers should be centralized with the NCAA cases. We conclude that they should not be included,” the JPML said.

The newly formed NCAA Concussion MDL is In Re: National Collegiate Athletic Association Student-Athlete Concussion Injury Litigation, MDL No. 2492, Northern District of Illinois.

UPDATE: On July 29, 2014, the NCAA entered a $75 million class action settlement to resolve the litigation. The NCAA concussion settlement must be approved by the Court.

UPDATE 2: On Dec. 17, 2014, a judge rejected the $75 million NCAA concussion class action settlement, finding that the deal was unfair. He sent the parties back for further negotiation.