RoanokeFan
03-31-2012, 12:22 PM
C0NCUSSION PLAINTIFF LIST GROWING VS. NFL (http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/football/145292315_Plaintiff_list_grows_vs__NFL.html)
"Mark Rypien is a Super Bowl MVP and champion, a former quarterback for the
Washington Redskins and other teams who reached football's pinnacle and now
wonders at what cost.<div id="storybody">
His memory failing him, Rypien tape-records significant conversations with
his girlfriend, he explains, "So we can go back ... when I vehemently say, 'I
did not say that.' " He suffers from depression, which Rypien particularly finds
worrisome when he thinks about his cousin Rick, an NHL enforcer who faced that
condition for years before committing suicide at age 27 in August. Rypien, 49,
wants to know what happened to the "fairly mellow individual" he once was,
before he became more impulsive and irritable.</p>
Concerns such as those are why Rypien put his name alongside those of several
hundred — and, lawyers involved say, soon perhaps more than 1,000 — ex-players
who are suing the NFL in federal court in Philadelphia. They say the league
didn't do enough to inform players about the dangers of head injuries and
protect them from concussions in the past, and it isn't doing enough to take
care of them today.</p>
What began last summer as a couple of cases with a handful of plaintiffs is
growing week by week: An attorney who submitted the suit that includes Rypien
and more than 120 others, Craig Mitnick, said that he was filing yet another
complaint Friday, adding about 70 plaintiffs to the total.</p>
Among the new plaintiffs: Golden Richards, who scored a touchdown in the
Dallas Cowboys' 1978 Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos; A.J. Duhe, the
1977 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, probably best known for his three
interceptions for the Miami Dolphins against the Jets in an AFC Championship
game; Curt Warner, who ran for more than 6,000 yards after being taken by the
Seattle Seahawks with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1983 draft out of Penn
State; and Rypien's Redskins teammate Chip Lohmiller, the second-team All-Pro
placekicker in 1991. Mitnick also has been retained by other former players who
have authorized him to put their names on future filings.</p>
There is strength — and symbolism — in the continually rising numbers of
former players taking the NFL to court, they believe.</p>
"If, for some reason, this doesn't go in favor of us, we've at least reached
out and shown there's a group of concerned former athletes struggling with their
own issues that wants to build awareness so that no one else has to go through
what we're going through," Rypien said. "If that's the only thing we get out of
this, that's a win. We can make some changes, so these guys [playing in the NFL
now] don't have to endure what some of us are enduring."</p>
The lawsuits began in the wake of a growing body of scientific evidence
connecting repeated blows to the head and long-term brain damage. Most of the
cases are now linked and before a judge in Philadelphia; the first procedural
hearing is about a month away.</p>
"The common person will say, 'They knew what they were doing. They knew the
risk that was involved.' And my answer is, 'Yes, so does every policeman and
every fireman in the country. And they wouldn't face the same criticism that
these ballplayers are facing.' ... They relied on the league as their medical
experts and the league withheld medical information that could have improved all
of these guys' lives," Mitnick said. "You have to put health before money, and
you have to put health before the word 'win."'</p>
NFL spokesman Greg Ailleo declined to comment Friday, other than to note that
the cases are in "their very early stages."</p>
As these suits have emerged, the NFL or its lawyers have said players knew
there were risks of injury when they decided to play football; there was no
misconduct on the part of the league; the league did not intentionally seek to
mislead players; and it has taken action to better protect players and to
advance the science of concussion management and treatment.</p>
The specific allegations against the NFL vary from lawsuit to lawsuit, as do
what the plaintiffs are seeking. Aside from individual injury claims, Mitnick's
clients want the league to pay for medical monitoring — so ex-players can be
checked for cognitive problems — and whatever the appropriate care would
be."</p></div>
"Mark Rypien is a Super Bowl MVP and champion, a former quarterback for the
Washington Redskins and other teams who reached football's pinnacle and now
wonders at what cost.<div id="storybody">
His memory failing him, Rypien tape-records significant conversations with
his girlfriend, he explains, "So we can go back ... when I vehemently say, 'I
did not say that.' " He suffers from depression, which Rypien particularly finds
worrisome when he thinks about his cousin Rick, an NHL enforcer who faced that
condition for years before committing suicide at age 27 in August. Rypien, 49,
wants to know what happened to the "fairly mellow individual" he once was,
before he became more impulsive and irritable.</p>
Concerns such as those are why Rypien put his name alongside those of several
hundred — and, lawyers involved say, soon perhaps more than 1,000 — ex-players
who are suing the NFL in federal court in Philadelphia. They say the league
didn't do enough to inform players about the dangers of head injuries and
protect them from concussions in the past, and it isn't doing enough to take
care of them today.</p>
What began last summer as a couple of cases with a handful of plaintiffs is
growing week by week: An attorney who submitted the suit that includes Rypien
and more than 120 others, Craig Mitnick, said that he was filing yet another
complaint Friday, adding about 70 plaintiffs to the total.</p>
Among the new plaintiffs: Golden Richards, who scored a touchdown in the
Dallas Cowboys' 1978 Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos; A.J. Duhe, the
1977 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, probably best known for his three
interceptions for the Miami Dolphins against the Jets in an AFC Championship
game; Curt Warner, who ran for more than 6,000 yards after being taken by the
Seattle Seahawks with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1983 draft out of Penn
State; and Rypien's Redskins teammate Chip Lohmiller, the second-team All-Pro
placekicker in 1991. Mitnick also has been retained by other former players who
have authorized him to put their names on future filings.</p>
There is strength — and symbolism — in the continually rising numbers of
former players taking the NFL to court, they believe.</p>
"If, for some reason, this doesn't go in favor of us, we've at least reached
out and shown there's a group of concerned former athletes struggling with their
own issues that wants to build awareness so that no one else has to go through
what we're going through," Rypien said. "If that's the only thing we get out of
this, that's a win. We can make some changes, so these guys [playing in the NFL
now] don't have to endure what some of us are enduring."</p>
The lawsuits began in the wake of a growing body of scientific evidence
connecting repeated blows to the head and long-term brain damage. Most of the
cases are now linked and before a judge in Philadelphia; the first procedural
hearing is about a month away.</p>
"The common person will say, 'They knew what they were doing. They knew the
risk that was involved.' And my answer is, 'Yes, so does every policeman and
every fireman in the country. And they wouldn't face the same criticism that
these ballplayers are facing.' ... They relied on the league as their medical
experts and the league withheld medical information that could have improved all
of these guys' lives," Mitnick said. "You have to put health before money, and
you have to put health before the word 'win."'</p>
NFL spokesman Greg Ailleo declined to comment Friday, other than to note that
the cases are in "their very early stages."</p>
As these suits have emerged, the NFL or its lawyers have said players knew
there were risks of injury when they decided to play football; there was no
misconduct on the part of the league; the league did not intentionally seek to
mislead players; and it has taken action to better protect players and to
advance the science of concussion management and treatment.</p>
The specific allegations against the NFL vary from lawsuit to lawsuit, as do
what the plaintiffs are seeking. Aside from individual injury claims, Mitnick's
clients want the league to pay for medical monitoring — so ex-players can be
checked for cognitive problems — and whatever the appropriate care would
be."</p></div>