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, )

Qwest Field, SEA

2002

5422M

29

lnvesco Field, DEN

200r

$683M

39

Heinz Field, PIT

200r

$312M

T6

125. In 2010, more than l7 million fans passed through turnstiles

operated by

clubs that are part of the NFL association, paying anywhere from $54.51 (Cleveland Browns) to
$117.84 (New England Patriots) for the average game ticket. Though the league won't open its
books, numbers for the publicly-held Green Bay Packers ("Packers") offer some insight into
what teams reap at the ticket offrce and concession stands. In 2010, the Packers cleared
$60,059,646 from home and away game tickets plus private boxes. Projected over 32 teams,
that's nearly $2

billion annually. The Packers reaped $13 million from concessions, parking

and

local media in 2010, which translates to $416 million on a league-wide basis.

F'ACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

A.

The Scientific Evidence On Concussions And Head Iniuries And The NFL's
Responses To It.

126.

A2011 article in the Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law of Harvard

Law School has summed up the consequences of concussions to athletes (footnotes omitted):

From high school leagues to the NFL, football players
ate becoming bigger, faster, and stronger, thereby
increasing the force of collisions that occur during a
game and increasing the potential for serious injuries.
The brain is a soft organ, surrounded by cerebrospinal
fluid and protected by the tough, bony skull. Normally,
the fluid around the brain serves as a protective cushion
for the brain, isolating it from direct impact to the skull.
When the head suffers violent impact, the brain can hit
the skull, causing the brain temporarily to stop working
normally. This is called a concussion.

40

More serious injuries occur after the initial concussion. A
concussion causes brain cells to become depolarized and
allows neurotransmitters to behave in an abnormal
fashion, causing such symptoms as memory loss, nausea,
and confusion. After the initial concussion, when the
brain is not fully healed, it is very fragile and susceptible
to minor accelerative forces. Thus, subsequent minor hits
may cause traumatic and permanent brain injury. This is
the heart of the problem: players returning to the football
field before allowing their initial concussion to heal fully.
When the player returns to the field too early, he is at risk
for what is known as Second Impact Syndrome (SIS).
SIS is the event that ensues when there is a subsequent
brain impact before the initial concussion has been given
time to heal. Additionally, when concussions occur with
high frequency, a disease called Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopatþ (CTE) may occur in the brain. "CTE is a
progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by
repetitive trauma to the brain which eventually leads to
dementia." While CTE was originally diagnosed most
commonly in boxers, it is now regularly found in football
players. Of all sports related injuries, concussions are
the injuries that most often go unnoticed and
untreated, especially in football. (Emphases added).

127.

The following chart, excerpted from a 2010 article in the New England

ooTraumatic
Brain Injury--Football, Warfare And Long-Term
Journal of Medicine entitled

Effects" shows how even repetitive mild traumas can have lasting consequences:

4l

:'\\'-"¡o-vg

Spectrum ofPathologic Fe.turB and Oulcomes oflraumet¡c Bra¡n lniurt [Tgll.

ln the left inset, Bielschowsþ silver stain shom int¡aneuronal and e¡tracellular neurofibrillary tangles in temporal coft€{ from a retired boxer
with dem€ntla pugilistica.¡ The right inset shws diffuse Ap plaque deposits in temporal cortex fiom a subiect who sustained severe TBl.2

128.

The NFL's responses to the issue of brain injuries caused to retired

NFL

players because of concussions or head impacts received during the period that they played
professional football has been, until very recently, one of deception and denial. The NFL and
several of the scientists

it employed actively tried to conceal the extent of the problem until

recently. The response of the League once it acknowledged the issue has been inadequate.

42

129.

The League's disinformation campaign was spearheaded by its Mild

Traumatic Brain Injury Committee ("MTBI Committee", sometimes also referred to in press
reports as the "Concussion Committee"), which was created by the NFL's own initiative and

voluntary undertakingin 1994, and chaired from 1994 to February of 2007 by Dr. Elliott
Pellman ("Pellman"), a rheumatologist who reportedly attended medical school in Guadalajara,

Mexico. Dr. Pellman worked with two other scientists on the MTBI Committee-Dr. Ira
("Casson"), a neurologist, and Dr. David Viano ("Viano"),

a

Casson

biomechanical engineer-to

attempt to discredit a slew of scientific studies that linked head impacts and concussions received
by NFL players to brain injuries. Casson and Viano replaced Pellman as co-chairs of the MTBI

Committee in February of 2007.

130.

Since 1994,the MTBI Committee had been conducting a study to

determine the effect of concussions on the long-term health of retired NFL players. In a

November 2007 rcport to Congress, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ("Goodell") said that the

MTBI Committee's study was in its "initial" data collection phase and that "[w]e do not know
when this study will be completed, although it is likely that a comprehensive study will require at
least several years ofresearch and analysis."

131.

In October of 2006, Pellman and Viano published in Neurological Focus

an interim report on the

MTBI Committee's efforts that surveyed

12 years

of data collection.

The authors analyzed collected "data on mild TBIs sustained between 1996 and 2001" and
concluded that:
[B]ecause a significant percentage of players returned

to play in the same game [as they suffered a mild
traumatic brain injuryl and the overwhelming
majority of players with concussions were kept out of
football-related activities for less than 1 week, it can

43

be concluded that mild TBIs in professional football
are not serious injuries. (Emphases added).

132.

As explained further below, this conclusion was against the weight of the

scientific evidence, afact that the members of the MTBI Committee well knew; it was also based
on biased data collection techniques. As ESPN reported in February of 2007:

Last fall, ESPN The Magazine reported that Pellman
was selective in his use of injury reports in reaching
his conclusions and omitted large numbers of players
from the league's concussion study. His findings also
contradicted other scientifÏc studies into the effects of
concussions:

.In

January 2005, Pellman and his colleagues wrote

that returning to play after a concussion "does not
involve significant risk of a second injury either in the
same game or during the season." But a 2003 NCAA
study of 2,905 college football players found just the
opposite: Those who have suffered concussions are
more susceptible to further head trauma for seven to
10 days after the injury.
. Pellman, a rheumatologist, and his group have also
stated repeatedly that their work shows "no evidence
of worsening injury or chronic cumulative effects of
multiple [mitd traumatic brain injury] in NFL
players." But a 2003 report by the Center for the
Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North
Carolina found a link between multiple concussions
and depression among former pro players with
histories of concussions. And a 2005 follow-up study

at the Center showed ù connection between
concussions and both brain impairment and

Alzheimer's disease among retired NFL players.
(Emphases added).

133. The concerns about head injuries associated with the playing of footballand the refusal to recognize those concerns by those in charge of the game-have a long history.

On Monday, February 1st, 2010, Dr. Bennet Omalu (o'Omalu"), Co-Director of the Brain Injury
44