PAGE 68
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LAWSUIT
Former NFL players claim head injuries were neglected
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Senior U.S.
District Judge Anita Brody has
a billion-dollar problem on her
hands.
Brody, of Philadelphia, heard arguments Tuesday on whether lawsuits that accuse the NFL of glorifying violence and hiding known concussion risks belong in court or in arbitration.
Brody could side with the 4,200 players and let them pursue lawsuits, or she could rule for the league and find that head injuries are covered under health provisions of the collective bargaining
agreement.
Or she could issue a split decision, letting some of the fraud and negligence claims against the NFL move forward in court. Her decision could be worth more than a billion dollars — and is expected to be appealed by either side, spawning years of litigation.
"There are people who aren't going to be able to be around long enough to find out the end of this case, and my husband is one of them," said Eleanor Perfetto, the widow of guard Ralph Wenzel, who played for Pittsburgh and San Diego from 1966 to 1973. "He died
last June, and I'm here for him. He was sick for almost two decades and, in the end, had very, very severe, debilitating dementia."
In the closely-watched court arguments Tuesday, NFL lawyer Paul Clement insisted that teams bear the chief responsibility for health and safety under the contract, along with the players' union and the players themselves.
"The clubs are the ones who had doctors on the sidelines who had primary responsibility for sending players back into the game," Clement said at a news conference after the hearing.
The players argue that the league "glorified" and "monetized" violence through NFL Films, thereby profiting from vicious hits to the head.
Players' lawyer David Frederick also accused the league of concealing studies linking concussions to neurological problems for decades, even after the NFL created a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee in 1994. The panel was led by a rheumatologist.
In recent years, scores of former NFL players and other concussed athletes have been diagnosed after their deaths with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, including popular Pro Bowler Junior Seau and lead plaintiff Ray Easterling. Both committed suicide last year.
"It it set up a sham committee designed to get information about neurological risks, but in fact spread misinformation," Frederick argued.
About one-third of the league's 12,000 former players have joined the litigation since Easterling filed suit in 2011. Some are battling dementia, depression or Alzheimer's disease, and fault the league for rushing them back on the field after concussions. Others are worried about future problems and want their health monitored.
Brody honed in on whether the
workplace safety issues and belong in arbitration.
collective bargaining agreement specifies that head injuries are workplace safety
say the only hits that hurt you are the hits from those years," he said.
Tom McHale played in the NFL from 1987 to 1995, before the Alllvy League athlete died of an accident overdose in 2008. He was 45 and had battled depression and addiction toward the end of his life.
"It has to be really specific. That's what I have to wrestle with," she said.
Lisa McHale, of Tampa, Fla., hardly recognized her once-gregarious husband. After his death, he was also diagnosed with CTE. She believes the player lawsuits, and the willingness of retired players to go public with their problems, will help her three teenage sons understand their father's illness.
Frederick called the contract "silent" on latent injury, and said
"I certainly admit that the gap year players ... are the most difficult cases," said Clement.
However, he said very few people played only those years, and not before or after. For most, "there's no way to
in effect when they collected pensions.
"There's no way to say the only hits that hurt you are the hits from those years."
Players and family members on hand for the hearing included Kevin Turner, a former Philadelphia Eagles running back now battling Lou Gehrig's disease; Dorsey Levens, a veteran running back who made a 2012 documentary on concussions called "Bell Rung," and Easterling's widow, Mary Ann.
One wrinkle in the NFLs argument is what it calls the "gap year" players, who played from 1987 to 1993, when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place. The league, eager to avoid opening up its files in a court case, argues that those players were bound by previous contracts or contracts later.
players therefore have the right to seek damages in court. Brody is not expected to rule for several months.
PAUL CLEMENT NFL lawyer
"To know it wasn't his fault, that there was something neurological going on, it helped," she said.
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
name: World News
Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Matt Moore delivers to the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday. April 10, 2013, in Arlington, Texas.
Rays defeat Texas to break three-game losing streak
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Matt Moore and four Rays relievers combined on a five-hitter and Tampa Bay beat Texas 2-0 Wednesday in the coldest day game ever at Rangers Ballpark.
It was only 39 degrees when the game started after a rain delay of 1 hour, 29 minutes. That was 40 degrees colder than Tuesday night.
Evan Longoria had a sacrifice fly for the Rays, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Their other run came on a grounder after Derek Holland (0-1) walked the bases loaded, his only three walks in his eight innings.
Moore (2-0) limited Texas to a single and struck out five, but had six walks and threw 106 pitches — 52 of them balls with two wild pitches — to get into the sixth. He benefited from two double-play grounders, one soon after he came out of the game.
Cesar Ramos, Jake McGee, Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney finished out Tampa Bay's third shutout of the season. Rodney got his first save.
Holland (0-1) allowed two runs and five hits with four strikeouts and the three walks.
Texas, which had won six of seven since its season-opening loss at Houston, appeared to have a run in the sixth. Mitch Moreland, the third batter after Moore left the game, beat out an inning-ending double-play grounder.
The only other time Moore pitched in Texas was the 2011 AL division series opener, when he threw seven scoreless innings for the Rays. He threw six shutout frames against Cleveland last week in his first start this season.
Baker argued briefly with second-base umpire Marty Foster, and was soon joined by Rangers manager Ron Washington. Foster motioned that Baker went out of his normal path, which television
Moreland had already been signaled safe and Nelson Cruz had crossed home plate when interference was called against Jeff Slake. The base runner appeared to slide away from second into the path of shortstop Yunel Escobar, who was making the relay throw.
That inning-ending play was much different than the game-ending strike of the series opener Texas won 5-4, which ended when Foster was behind home plate and called strike three on a curveball low and outside — a call he later admitted he got wrong.
replays appeared to support
In the eighth, Adrian Beltre was thrown out at home trying to score on pinch-hitter Leonys Martin's fly ball. Right fielder Ben Zobrist made a solid throw to catcher Jose Lobaton, who had the plate blocked and tagged out Beltre.
All three of Holland's walks came in the third. The first was to No. 9 hitter Kelly Johnson, who eventually scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Zobrist, the batter who thought he had drawn a walk Monday night to put two runners on base for Longoria before Foster's game-ending call.
Desmond Jennings led off the fifth with his third double in two games and scored on Longoria's deep fly ball to right.