A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that the family of Derek Boogaard, the former National Hockey League (NHL) Enforcer/Fighter, who died from an accidental overdose of prescription painkillers and alcohol, can refile his lawsuit against the NHL.
In so ruling, the district court reversed itself from an earlier ruling it rendered almost a year ago when it found that the Boogaard family’s claim was preempted by the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
In the latest ruling, the court found the new allegations that the league “actively harmed Boogaard” do not require an interpretation of the CBA.
Boogaard, who played in the NHL from 2005 to 2010 with the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers, claimed in his lawsuit that he was provided copious amounts of prescription pain medications, sleeping pills, and painkiller injections by NHL teams’ physicians, dentists, trainers and staff. For example, during the 2008-09 season Boogaard sustained a tooth fracture, underwent nasal surgery and had shoulder surgery and was prescribed 1,021 pills from ten Minnesota Wild or San Jose Sharks teams’ physicians and dentists plus 150 Oxycodone — a Schedule II controlled substance because of its high potential for abuse — pills.
After his death on May 13, 2011, Boogaard was posthumously found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — the same neuro-degenerative disease at the core of the now settled nearly $1 billion class action lawsuit against the National Football League.
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Corboy & Demetrio lawyer Thomas A. Demetrio, who along with William T. Gibbs, is representing the Estate of Boogaard, said: This League needs to adapt and change so that a preventable tragedy like this never happens again. This lawsuit will unearth the failed policies that have led to the demise of so many NHL Fighters and bring to light the need for meaningful change in the NHL so that families, like the Boogaards, can rest easier knowing that their loved ones are safe.”
Gibbs added that the NHL drafted Derek Boogaard “because it wanted his massive body to fight in order to enhance ratings, earnings and exposure. Fighting night after night took its expected toll on Derek’s body and mind. To deal with the pain, he turned to the team doctors, who dispensed pain pills like candy. Then, once he became addicted to these narcotics, the NHL promised his family that it would take care of him. It failed. He died. Today, his family seeks justice for the NHL’s egregious failures.”.
The lawsuit claims that the NHL knew or should have known that league players with brain damage are more susceptible to drug addiction, and specifically, that “Enforcers/Fighters in the NHL had an increased risk of developing addiction to prescription medications.”
Case Info: #13L4935 in Cook County Circuit Court; Len Boogaard and Joanne Boogaard, Co-Executors of the Estate of Derek Boogaard, Deceased, v. National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players Association.
