A former University of Alabama football player has filed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA, claiming the concussions he suffered were the “result (of the NCAA’s) reckless disregard for the health and safety of generations of The University of Alabama (Alabama) athletes.”
Plaintiff Kerry Goode, who is represented by Shrader & Associates and Conley Griggs Partin, alleged in the complaint on his behalf and that of other Alabama athletes that by ignoring the evidence it had at its disposal, the NCAA “kept players and the public in the dark about an epidemic that was slowly killing college athletes.”
The complaint compared concussions and other injuries players suffered to car accidents in which they drove a car into a wall at 25 miles per hour without wearing a seatbelt. “(C)ollege athletes are subjected to repeated car accidents” when they play football.
It continued: “Over time, the repetitive and violent impacts to players’ heads led to repeated concussions that severely increased their risks of long-term brain injuries, including memory loss, dementia, depression, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other symptoms. Meaning, long after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological events that could slowly strangle their brains.
“For decades, the NCAA knew about the debilitating long-term dangers of concussions, concussion-related injuries, and sub-concussive injuries (referred to as ‘traumatic brain injuries’ or ‘TBIs’) that resulted from playing college football, but recklessly disregarded this information to protect the very profitable business of ‘amateur’ college football. While in school, football players were under the defendant’s care. Unfortunately, the defendant did not care about the off-field consequences that would haunt students, like plaintiff Kerry Goode, for the rest of their lives. Despite knowing for decades of a vast body of scientific research describing the danger of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) like those Kerry Goode experienced, the defendant failed to implement adequate procedures to protect Kerry Goode and other Alabama football players from the long-term dangers associated with them. They did so knowingly and for profit.
“As a direct result of the defendant’s acts and omissions, Kerry Goode and countless former Alabama football players suffered brain and other neurocognitive injuries from playing NCAA football. As such, the plaintiff brings this class action complaint in order to vindicate those players’ rights and hold the NCAA accountable.”
The complaint followed the well-worn path of exhaustively chronicling what the NCAA allegedly has known for decades about the risk of concussion.
It then introduced claims of negligence, breach of express contract, and fraudulent concealment, making arguments for each that the NCAA has become all too familiar with.
