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On June 18, a West Virginia judge stated that the court would not toss a proposed football helmet class action lawsuit filed against Riddell Inc. by Midwestern Midget Football Club Inc., a youth football league, ruling that the league can be considered a consumer. This Riddell class action lawsuit alleges the company overcharged consumers (including Midwestern) for their football helmets, and justified these premium charges using the results of false concussion study.
According to U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr., although Midwestern does not fit the description of a “consumer” under West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act, the league does count as a “person” under the law, which is all the law requires in terms of those able to file a claim under the CCPA. The judge also pointed out that just last week the West Virginia legislature had amended the CCPA to remove all references of “consumers” in the act’s language.
In addition to denying Riddell’s argument against the plaintiff’s standing in this football helmet class action lawsuit, Judge Copenhaver dismissed Riddell’s claim that Midwestern failed to demonstrate proof that it has purchased the company’s Revolution brand helmets for its youth players based on Riddell’s advertising claims that Riddell football helmets are better at preventing concussions than traditional helmets. The company also claimed that the plaintiff failed to show that Riddell’s advertising claims were false.
Midwestern did admit that expert testimony in court would be needed to support its claim that the league purchased the helmets under the assumption that the Riddell products were more effective in preventing concussions. However, the judge pointed out that the plaintiff will not have to prove this claim at this stage of litigation for this Riddell football helmet class action lawsuit.
The football helmet class action lawsuit alleges Riddell falsely states in their advertising that their brand name Revolution helmets reduce the risk of player concussion by a third when compared to other brands of youth football helmets. Midwestern also claims the study used to support Riddell’s adverting claims were funded by the football helmet manufacturer and co-authored by the company’s own employees.
In their Riddell class action lawsuit, Midwestern claims, “Riddell’s marketing claims were knowingly false. Among other things, Midwestern contends that Riddell’s assertions were based upon a statistically unsound study paid for by Riddell and co-authored by a Riddell employee. The study was publically criticized by third-party scientists. Indeed, Midwestern alleges that scientific studies and other data of which Riddell was aware indicated that the Revolution Helmets made no material difference to concussion risk as compared to traditional helmets.”
Riddell fired back with a motion to dismiss this football helmet class action lawsuit, arguing that the sports youth league could not prove that their football helmet advertising was false, because an actual Revolution helmet study was conducted and its results pointed to a 31 percent decreased risk of concussion for users.
The football helmet manufacturer also argued that Midwestern committed “improper burden-shifting” when it attempted to discount the Revolution helmet study, and furthermore that this does not provide standing for the league to pursue these claims of Riddell’s liability.
However, the judge disagreed with Riddell’s argument, stating that Midwestern did provide enough support for their false advertising claims by citing a an article published in the Journal of Neurosurgery, which points out problems with Riddell’s study (originally conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center). Midwestern also supported that Riddell did make this false advertising claims of concussion-reduction with examples of Riddell’s advertising for their Revolution helmets that specifically use figures from the UPMC study.
Midwestern Midget Football Club Inc. is represented by Ryan M. Donovan, Marc. R. Weintraub and Michael L. Murphy of Bailey & Glasser LLP.
The Riddell Football Helmet Class Action Lawsuit is Midwestern Midget Football Club Inc. v. Riddell Inc., Case No. 2:15-cv-00244, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
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