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A22 sports
Friday 8 February 2019

Wave of concussion lawsuits to test NCAA’s liability

By RALPH D. RUSSO against the NCAA, college
AP College Football Writer conferences and, in some
NEW YORK (AP) — The cases, individual schools.
NCAA is facing more than Many public universities
300 lawsuits from former cannot be sued under
college football players state sovereignty laws.
who claim their concus- Most private universities
sions were mistreated, such as Southern California
leading to medical prob- and Notre Dame are not
lems spanning from head- protected by such laws.
aches to depression and, Last year, three days into
in some cases, early onset a trial, the NCAA reached
Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s a settlement with Debra
disease. Hardin-Ploetz, the widow of
The first wave of lawsuits hit former Texas football play-
college sports’ major gov- er Greg Ploetz, who played
erning body in 2016 and defense for the Longhorns
more than 200 more were in the late 1960s. The case
filed recently by Edelson was not related to the 300-
PC, a Chicago-based firm plus concussion lawsuits,
that focuses on class-ac- but Jay Edelson said the re-
tion cases, and Raizner Sla- sult was encouraging.
nia LLP in Houston. Most of “That case that was tried
the cases were filed in the This is an April 25, 2018, file photo, showing NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. in Texas, was really in the
U.S Court for the Northern Associated Press heart of football country.
District of Illinois. tion or the conference or court in California. settlement included an So our view is it was one of
The sheer volume of the some combination caused Jay Edelson, a lead attor- agreement that a large the most difficult jurisdic-
cases seems daunting, but that harm and had some ney in the latest concus- personal injury class-ac- tions to get a really great
experts say those seeking legal duty to the plaintiff sions effort, has been pur- tion lawsuits could not be jury verdict,” Edelson told
damages akin to the NFL’s and breached that duty. suing personal injury dam- brought against the NCAA, AP.
billion-dollar settlement Each factor of the analy- ages for former college but individual lawsuits were “Even with that, once the
with its former players have sis could be difficult for the athletes for several years. permitted on a per school affirmative evidence was
a challenging argument to plaintiff to prove. Perhaps Edelson was part of a pre- basis. put on by the plaintiffs, the
make. the most difficult is the cau- vious concussion case Edelson has criticized that NCAA settled. We think that
“These are very difficult cas- sation piece.” against the NCAA that re- settlement and some of the is a big statement because
es,” said Gabe Feldman, The concussion claims sulted in a $75 million settle- plaintiffs, including former our view is if they realize
director of Tulane Univer- come as the NCAA awaits ment. The NCAA agreed Eastern Illinois defensive that they can’t allow a jury
sity’s sports law program. a federal judge’s ruling in to pay $70 million toward back Adrian Arrington who to decide it in the heart of
“They’re difficult because an antitrust case that chal- medical monitoring for initiated the case, have football country, where is
in many of the cases the lenges the association’s former college athletes, fought against its approval their safe haven?”
plaintiff is clearly suffering right to cap compensation another $5 million toward in court. In a statement to the AP,
and the plaintiff has clearly to football and basketball medical research and Arrington is among the NCAA chief legal officer
suffered harm. But the chal- players at the value of an payments of up to $5,000 hundreds of former college Donald Remy said the
lenge is proving that the athletic scholarship. That toward individual players football players now bring- NCAA is undaunted by the
NCAA, the member institu- case is pending in federal who claimed injuries. The ing personal injury claims recent filings.q

Russian race walker Kirdyapkina banned for doping

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH place finishes from the 2011 and 2013
AP Sports Writer world championships.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian race walker An- Kirdyapkina originally took the bronze in
isya Kirdyapkina, a two-time world cham- 2011 but was elevated to second when
pionship medalist, has been banned for the winner, Russian teammate Olga
using performance-enhancing drugs, fur- Kaniskina, was banned for doping. Kirdy-
ther dismantling one of the most successful apkina’s 2011 silver is set to pass to Elisa
doping programs in history. Rigaudo of Italy, the original fourth-place
Kirdyapkina was the only athlete from Rus- finisher, while Liu Hong of China is in line to
sia’s nine-person Olympic walk team in inherit the 2013 medal.
2012 never to have served a ban despite Kirdyapkina has also been disqualified
multiple investigations into organized dop- from her fifth-place finish at the 2012 Olym-
ing involving her coach, her teammates pics. Russian teammate Elena Lashmano-
and her gold medal-winning husband, va is still officially considered the winner of
Sergei. that race, though she was banned in 2014
The Russian track federation said Thursday in another doping case.
that Kirdyapkina was banned for three Athletes from the Russian walk team’s Sa-
In this file photo dated Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011, Russia’s years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ransk training center won nine Olympic
Anisya Kirdyapkina crosses the finish line to place third in the after her blood data showed signs of dop- and 18 world championship medals from
Women’s 20km Race Walk at the World Athletics Championships ing. She will have to cease her coaching 2004-16, but head coach Viktor Chegin
in Daegu, South Korea.
Associated Press career and is disqualified from second- has since been banned for life.q