The perception that professional wrestling is scripted entertainment took a backseat last month when former performer Billy Jack Haynes sued the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., claiming the international sports conglomerate for the “egregious mistreatment of its wrestlers for its own benefit, as well as its concealment and denial of medical research and evidence concerning traumatic brain injuries suffered by WWE wrestlers.”
William Albert Haynes III, now 61, sued the WWE in federal court in Portland. He is also asking the court to grant class-action status for as many as 500 other individuals, who suffered injuries while wrestling or performing in the WWE-sanctioned matches.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of Haynes by the law firm Stoll Bernie Lokting & Schlachter, reads as follows:
“Under the guise of providing ‘entertainment,’ WWE has, for decades, subjected its wrestlers to extreme physical brutality that it knew, or should have known, caused long-term irreversible bodily damage, including brain damage. For most of its history, WWE has engaged in a campaign of misinformation and deception to prevent its wrestlers from understanding the true nature and consequences of the injuries they have sustained. WWE’s representations, actions, and inactions have caused its wrestlers to suffer from death, long-term debilitating injuries, lost profits, premature retirement, medical expenses, and other losses as alleged herein.”
Haynes also took aim at the practice of the WWE, a publicly traded company based in Stamford, Conn., of using “independent contractors.” Amplifying on this, he noted in his complaint that the WWE “does not provide its wrestlers, past or current, with health insurance, disability insurance, or unemployment insurance. When wrestlers retire, they are effectively on their own.”
The plaintiff claimed he was required to wrestle an average of 26 days a month, and once wrestled 97 straight days.
The effects on Haynes, who allegedly suffered 15 concussions in his career, have been substantial. “As a result of the head trauma he sustained while wrestling in WWE, Haynes suffers from depression and exhibits symptoms of dementia,” according to the lawsuit.
Others are suffered as well, he claims.
“The lawsuit references the long history of WWE wrestlers who have suffered debilitating injuries and died young due to brain trauma,” wrote Joseph Hanna of Goldberg Segalla recently. “In particular, Haynes mentions Chris Benoit, a former wrestler who murdered his family before killing himself. The subsequent medical exam showed that Benoit suffered from CTE and had the brain of an 85 year old Alzheimer’s patient.”
To that end, he has asked the court to require the WWE to establish “a trust fund, in an amount to be determined, to pay for the medical monitoring of all wrestlers subjected to checks and hits, as frequently as determined to be medically necessary, as well as to pay to develop and research other methods by which the risk of those affected can be reduced.”
The WWE responded with its own statement:
“(The) lawsuit alleges that WWE concealed medical information and evidence on concussions during that time, which is impossible since the condition now called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) had not even been discovered. WWE was well ahead of sports organizations in implementing concussion management procedures and policies as a precautionary measure as the science and research on this issue emerged. Current WWE procedures include ImPACT testing for brain function, annual educational seminars and the strict prohibition of deliberate and direct shots to the head. Additionally, WWE has committed significant funding for concussion research conducted by the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), leaders in concussion research, and WWE Executive Vice President Paul Levesque sits on SLI’s board.”
To see the full complaint, visit: http://www.scribd.com/doc/244697731/Billy-Jack-Haynes-WWE-Class-Action-Complaint
