Judge Tosses NCAA Concussion Class Action Settlement

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

A $75 million proposed settlement in the class action lawsuit alleging the NCAA’s approach to concussion treatment and prevention caused long term neurological damage and other physical ailments to ex-players was rejected by a Illinois federal judge who said the deal was unfair.

The class action was filed by ex-collegiate athletes who accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association of concussion and head-injury policies that did not adequately protect athletes leading to life long physical problems for college athletes. The proposed settlement was meant to fund a 50-year medical monitoring program to examine former players for neurological problems. The NCAA also would have been required to make big adjustments to its concussion and head-injury policies and put $5 million to concussion research.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge John Z. Lee rejected the proposed NCAA concussion class action settlement over concerns that $70 million would not cover the proposed 50-year medical monitoring program. Judge Lee denied the parties’ motions for preliminary approval of the deal without prejudice, however. Judge Lee explained his decision, pointing out that the $70 million amount didn’t include athletes in non-contact sports, like baseball, water polo, cross-country and golf, might still be suffer head injuries.

“The risks of suffering a concussion while playing NCAA-sanctioned sports are scattered along a continuum with football on the highest end and sports such as riflery on the lower end,” Judge Lee said in his order rejecting the deal. “The class representatives as a group must adequately represent this continuum as a whole so that the various interests along the continuum can be voiced as part of the settlement process,” Judge Lee continued. Judge Lee sent the parties back to negotiate.

Judge Lee also ruled on Wednesday that the proposed class action settlement’s provision requiring medical personnel with concussion expertise to be present at contact sports did not address a similar measure for noncontact games and practice. “This is not to say that the student-athletes who play or played noncontact sports would demand (or even desire) such protections as part of a negotiated settlement,” Judge Lee said. “But,” he continued, “in light of the undisputed data that more than half of the approximately 4.2 million potential class members play or played noncontact sports, the current class representatives simply are not qualified to make that decision for them.”

Class Members have raised concerns over the proposed NCAA concussion class action settlement, pointing out that treatment is not covered for injuries and former players may be barred from filing class action lawsuits for damages by the deal. Also, in a hearing in October, Judge Lee indicated that the deal may need to be crafted in a way that limits the class action to contact sports where the risk of concussion is high.

Earlier this week, a group of college athletes urged the judge to expand the scope of the NCAA concussion class action settlement by including athletes who play volleyball, baseball, and other noncontact sports as Class representatives.

The class is represented by Steve Berman, Elizabeth Fegan, Daniel Kurowski and Thomas Ahlering of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and Joseph Siprut of Siprut PC.

The NCAA Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is In re: National Collegiate Athletic Association Student-Athlete Concussion Injury Litigation, Case No. 1:13-cv-09116, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.