NFL’s Latest Request To Halt Painkiller Class Action Should be Denied, Argue Former Players

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NFL Painkillers Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Former NFL players Richard Dent and Jim McMahon are asking a federal judge to deny a summary judgement request by the National Football League. 
• Why: The NFL claims the court can not legally attempt to interpret the collective bargain agreements of individual teams.
• Where: The class action lawsuit is being litigated in California federal court.

Former NFL players have asked a judge to once again deny efforts from the league to escape a class action lawsuit alleging it was negligent in the way it oversaw the way prescription pain medicine was prescribed.

Former Chicago Bears Richard Dent and Jim McMahon originally filed the class action lawsuit back in 2014, but it has since gone through multiple dismissals, amendments, and appeals. 

Dent and McMahon claimed team doctors prescribed NFL players opioids, prescription painkillers, and anti inflammatories without taking into account medical histories or the potential for negative interactions. 

The NFL has now requested a summary judgement, arguing the court can not legally attempt to interpret the final remaining claim that it failed to properly monitor the individual team doctors.

The league argues that the court would be violating the Labor Management Relations Act if it attempted to interpret each team’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Dent and McMahon, meanwhile, argue their claims fall outside of the range of teams’ individual CBAs, and that the NFL is simply once again trying to mischaracterize their complaint in an attempt to invalidate it. 

“As it has done since the outset of this litigation, the (NFL) has taken a pen to plaintiffs’ well-pled claims, recast them in a mold it deems cannot hold and then tries to knock them down,” the players wrote.

NFL Players Fight Dismissal of Painkiller Class Action

Dent and McMahon pointed out that the class action lawsuit has already survived trips to the Ninth Circuit and a prior dismissal bid that was rejected by a federal judge in February — though he later refused to certify the complaint in August. 

Players also disagreed with the NFL’s argument that the statute of limitations had run out, since none of the players have been in the league since 2008. 

Dent and McMahon claim that it was only in 2013 that they were finally made aware that they had been wronged by the league.

“What plaintiffs needed to know, and did not know until 2013 at the earliest, are the facts concerning the NFL’s voluntary involvement in the recording keeping, distribution and administration of medication,” the players wrote.

Dent and McMahon went back before the court in September to once again try and have the class action lawsuit certified. The player’s motion is currently pending. 

Do you believe the NFL should be held liable for the actions of team doctors who prescribed pain medication? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by William N. Sinclair, Steven D. Silverman, Andrew G. Slutkin, Christopher Macchiaroli, Stephen G. Grygiel, and Phillip J. Closius of Silverman Thompson Slutkin White LLC, Kathleen Douglas, Stuart A. Davidson, and Mark J. Dearman of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, and Mel T. Owens and Thomas J. Byrne of Namanny Byrne & Owens PC.

The NFL Painkillers Class Action Lawsuit is Dent et al. v. National Football League, Case No. 3:14-cv-02324, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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