BOYD et al v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE et al

Filing 1

COMPLAINT against NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NFL PROPERTIES LLC ( Filing fee $ 350 receipt number 055871.), filed by MACARTHUR LANE, MARK COOPER, BRAD JACKSON, ROBERT BELL, CHARLES ANTHONY, CLIFF HARRIS, MARVIN WOODSON, PAUL KRAUSE, NOEL JENKE, CHARLES MYRTLE, CEDRICK HARDMAN, BRUCE LAIRD, JOE DELAMIELLEURE, DON HORN, DENNIS HARRAH, JAMES WILLIAMS, MARK KONAR, TOMMY NOBIS, JAMES JONES, CALVIN JACKSON, TROY JOHNSON, MICHAEL MORTON, PETER LAZETICH, CALEB MILLER, JOSEPH KAPP, MICHAEL WEDDINGTON, HARVEY ARMSTRONG, DERLAND MOORE, MICHAEL MERRIWEATHER, JAMES HARRELL, AARON JONES, II, KENNETH EASLEY, JR, ESTATE OF GREGORY LENS, RICK SANFORD, WILLIAM "BILLY&quo SHIELDS, GARY PADJEN, CHARLES KRUEGER, PHIL VILLAPIANO, KEN FANTETTI, DONNIE GREEN, LEON "RAY" JARVIS, EDWARD WHITE, JOE FERGUSON, JR, LARRY WOODS, DONALD MACEK, JEFF BARNES, CHARLIE SMITH, LEE FOLKINS, DERRICK GAFFNEY, AUGUST "GUS" OTTO, PHILLIP FREEMAN, III, OLRICK JOHNSON, JR, WILLIE GREEN, JAMES HOUGH, CHARLEY HARRAWAY, THOMAS BEER, JAMES GARCIA, FRED FORSBERG, TERRANCE "TERRY&quo METCALF, BOBBY HARDEN, JR, DENNIS MCKNIGHT, ALFRED GROSS, GENE LANG, LEMUEL BARNEY, BRENT BOYD, DELLES HOWELL, JERRY ROBINSON, WILLIAM "BILL" CODY, VICTOR HICKS, ARTHUR STILL, REGINALD CLARK, CRAIG CURRY, DONALD MANOUKIAN, MARK NICHOLS, JEFF MCINTYRE, DAVID RECHER, LEONARD "BUBBA&quo MCDOWELL, JR, MIKE WOOD, TERRY OWENS, CLARENCE VERDIN, BRYAN STOLENBERG, ROD MARTIN, ROBERT KROLL, KEITH NORD, MICHAEL "TONY" DAVIS, CONRAD DOBLER, MELVIN CARVER, MIKE AUGUSTYNIAK, TRUMAINE JOHNSON, FRED SMERLAS, RANDY RAGON, MARGENE ADKINS, NEAL CRAIG, WILLIAM "BILLY&quo TRUAX, KORY MINOR, J. BRUCE JARVIS, LIONEL ANTOINE, STEVE JONES, PETER CRONAN, IRA MATTHEWS, III, MARK COTNEY, JEFFREY WALKER, MERVIN KRAKAU, JON MELANDER, LARRY WEBSTER, FRED ANDERSON. (Attachments: # 1 complaint, # 2 complaint, # 3 complaint, # 4 complaint, # 5 complaint, # 6 complaint, # 7 complaint, # 8 complaint, # 9 complaint, # 10 complaint, # 11 complaint, # 12 complaint, # 13 complaint, # 14 complaint, # 15 complaint, # 16 complaint, # 17 complaint, # 18 complaint, # 19 Civil Cover Sheet)(mima, )

2. UGAA will have on file and annually update an
emergency action plan (attachment C) for each

athletics venue to respond to

student-athlete

catastrophic injuries and illnesses, including but not
limited to concussions, heat illness, spine injury, cardiac
arrest, respiratory distress (e.g. asthma), and sickle cell
trait collapses. All athletics healthcare providers and
coaches shall review and practice the plan annually.
These sessions will be conducted prior to the start of the
sport season. ...The UGAA compliance office will
maintain a list of staff that have completed the
requirement on file.

3. UGAA sports medicine staff members shall

be

empowered to determine management and return-toplay of any ill or injured student-athlete, as he or she
deems appropriate. Conflicts or concems will be
forwarded to Ron Courson (director of sports medicine)
and Fred Reifsteck, MD (head team physician) for
remediation.

4. UGAA shall have on file a written team physiciandirected concussion management plan (attachment D)
that specifically outlines the roles of athletics
healthcare staff (e.g., physician, certified athletic
trainer, nurse practitioner, physician assistant,
neuropsychologist). In addition, the following
components have been specifïcally identified for the
collegiate environment:

UGAA coaches will receive a copy of the concussion
management plan, a fact sheet on concussions in sport,
and view a video on concussions annually. The UGAA
compliance office will maintain a list of staff that have
completed the requirement on file.
a.

b. UGAA sports medicine staff members and other
athletics healthcare providers will practice within the
standards as established for their professional
practice (e.g., team physician, certified athletic trainer,
physical therapist, nurse practitioner, physician assistant,
neurologist, neuropsychologist).

c. UGAA shall record a baseline assessment for each
student-athlete in the sports of baseball, basketball,
cheerleading, diving, equestrian, football, gymnastics,
80

pole vaulting, soccer, and softball, at a minimum. In
addition, a baseline assessment will be recorded for
student-athletes with a known history of concussion.
The same baseline assessment tools should be used
post-injury zt appropriate time intervals. The
baseline assessment should consist of the use of: 1)

symptoms checklist,
assessment (Neurocom)

testing

2) standardized balance
and 3) neuropsychological

(computerized IMPACT

test).

Neuropsychological testing has been shown to be
effective in the evaluation and management of
concussion. The neuropsychological testing program

should be performed in consultation with

^
neuropsychologist. Post injury neuropsychological
test data will be interpreted by a neuropsychologist
prior to return to play. Neuropsychological testing
has proven to be an effective tool in assessing
neurocognitive changes following concussion and can
serve as an important component of an institution's

concussion management plan. However,
neuropsychological tests should not be used as a
standalone measure to diagnose the presence or
absence

of a

as UGAA uses
^
by its sports medicine

concussion

comprehensive assessment
staff.

d. When a student-athlete shows any signs, symptoms
or behaviors consistent with a concussion, the athlete
will be removed from practice or competition, by
either a member of the coaching staff or sports

medicine staff. If removed by
coaching staff
^
member, the coach will refer the student-athlete for
evaluation by a member of the sports medicine staff.
During competitions, on the field of play injuries will
be under the purview of the official and playing rules
of the sport. UGAA staff will follow such rules and
attend to medical situations as they arise. Visiting
sport team members evaluated by UGAA sports
medicine staff will be managed in the same manner as
UGAA student-athletes.
e. A student-athlete diagnosed with a concussion will
be withheld from the competition or practice and not
return to activity for the remainder of that day.
Student-athletes that sustain a concussion outside of their

81

sport

will be managed in the same manner as those

sustained during sport activity.

f. The student-athlete will receive serial monitoring
for deterioration. Athletes will be provided with written
home instructions (attachment E) upon discharge;
preferably with a roommate, guardian, or someone that
can follow the instructions.

g. The student-athlete will be monitored for
recurrence of symptoms both from physical exertion

and also mental exertion, such as reading, phone
texting, computer games, watching film, athletic
meetings, working on a computer, classroom work, or
taking a test. Academic advisors and professors will be
notif,red of student-athlete's concussion, with permission
for release of information from the student-athlete.

h. The student-athlete will be evaluated by a team
physician as outlined within the concussion
management plan. Once asymptomatic and postexertion assessments are within normal baseline limits,
return to play shall follow a medically supervised
stepwise process.

i. Final authority for Retum-to-Play shall reside with the
team physician or the physician's designee as noted in
the concussion management fl owchart.

5. UGAA will document the incident, evaluation,
continued management, and clearance of the studentathlete with a concussion. Aggregate concussion
numbers per sport will be reported to the Director of
Athletics annually.
6. Athletics staff, student-athletes and officials will
continue to emphasize that purposeful or flagrant
head or neck contact in any sport should not be
permitted.

B. Riddell's Participation With The NFL In Misrepresentine The Risk Of Reneated
Head Impacts.

189.

Riddell manufactures helmets for use by NFL players. Since 1989,

82

Riddell has been the offrcial helmet for the League and is the only helmet manufacturer allowed
to display its logo on helmets used in League games. Prior to the commencement of the 2010
season, Riddell renewed its contract

with the League allowing it to continue

primary helmet provider through 2014. The NFL has estimated that

75o/o

of

as the

NFL's

the helmets used

in

the League are manufactured by Riddell; Riddell estimated that the figure was 77%o.

190.

Riddell has long been aware of medical issues concerning concussions.

Yet despite being the maker of the official helmet for the NFL, it did nothing to prevent the
disinformation campaign engaged in by the League that is described in the preceding paragraphs.

191.

Indeed, Riddell actively abetted the work of the NFL's

MTBI Committee.

In 1997, it became part of that Committee's project of assessing concussions and health
consequences to NFL playersby analyzing and reconstructing head impacts.

192.

In 2006, Riddell sponsored a study that appeare d in Neurosurgery that was

co-authored by Lovell and Dr. Joe Maroon of the MTBI Committee and Dr. Mickey Collins

of

the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who works closely with various NFL member clubs,
that touted Riddell's "Revolution" helmet (introduced in2002) as reducing the incidence

of

concussions in over 2000 high school athletes in Western Pennsylvania. Cantu publicly criticized
the study as being worthless.

C. The NX'L's Retirement Plan And Other Benefit Plans For Retired NFL Plavers And
How They Are Inadequate.

I93.

The

NFL's retirement and disability benefits are simply insufficient to

provide sufficient medical services to retired NFL players who are at risk for CTE, MCI,

Alzheimer's disease or similar cognitive-impairing conditions due to head impacts received
during the period in which they played League football. These benefits are also inadequate to

83

defray the medical costs associated with the treatment of such cognitive-impairing conditions
once they are diagnosed.

194.

Retirement and disability benefits for former NFL players are provided

pursuant to the "Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle Retirement Plan" (the "Plan"). The Plan is a merger of

two prior plans in 1993. The Plan provides for retirement benefits, total and permanent ("T&P")
disability benefits, line of duty disability benefits and death benefits.

195.

As of December of 2010, only 3,154 formerNFL players receive pension

benehts under the Plan, for an annual outlay of $63.7 million.

196.

In August of 2010, the United States Department

of Labor ("DoL")

put

the Plan on "endangered" status because the Plan's funded percentage was only 75o/o.r The

DoL's letter to the Plan (available from its website at <http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/enotice092210001.pdÞ) noted that the Plan needed to devise a "funding improvement plan."

197.

The Plan is run by a Retirement Board consisting of three persons selected

by the NFLPA, three persons selected by the NFL Management Council and, in an ex officio
capacity, the NFL Commissioner. The actuary for the Plan is Aon Corporation, executives

of

which, on information and belief, have ownership interests in the Chicago Bears, one of the

NFL's member clubs.

I

As the DoL explains at its website, htþ://www.dol.gov/ebsa/criticalstatusnotices.html :
"[u]nder Federal pension law, if a multiemployer pension plan is determined to be in critical or
endangered status, the plan must provide notice of this status to participants, beneficiaries, the
bargaining parties, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Department of Labor.
This requirement applies when a plan has funding or liquidity problems, or both, as described
in the Federal law. If a plan is in critical status, adjustable benefits may be reduced and no lump
sum distributions can be made. Pension plans in critical and endangered status are required to
adopt a plan aimed at restoring the financial health of the pension plan."

84