By Professor Robert J Romano, JD, LLM, St. John’s University, Senior Writer
In April of 2019, Robert Geathers, a former member of the South Carolina State University football team, together with his wife Debra, filed a negligence and fraud action against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the state of South Carolina’s Court of Common Pleas for the First Judicial District Circuit. Per their five-count complaint, the Geathers alleged that the college governing body negligently failed to warn Robert and other college football players about the long-term neurological effects of repetitive head trauma and concussions.[1] This past October, a South Carolina jury awarded the Geathers $18 million in damages, marking a significant moment in the ongoing legal battles over athlete safety and accountability at the college sport level.
By way of background, Robert Geathers played defensive end for South Carolina State Bulldogs from 1977 to 1980, during which time he alleged to have experienced repeated head impacts typical of collegiate football which exposed him to concussive and sub-concussive trauma.[2] In 2017, almost forty years after his college athletic career, Geathers was diagnosed with dementia, while also presenting signs consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a debilitating brain condition with links to repeated head injury and concussions. As these symptoms worsened, they had a significant impact on his quality of life, eventually leading to his wife to becoming his primary caretaker.
The Geathers’ lawsuit centered around allegations that the NCAA had been aware of any and all potential dangers of concussions and related conditions, such as CTE, since as early as the 1930s, and pointed to a 1933 NCAA medical handbook, which included references to “concussion management plans” and early warnings about “punch drunk syndrome,” now recognized as CTE. The gravamen of Geathers’ legal argument was that the NCAA not only possessed this knowledge but actively withheld it, and in doing so, breached its duty to protect the health and safety of its student-athletes.
The legal team representing the Geathers, led by Attorney Bakari Sellers, position was that the NCAA’s actions (or in this case – inaction) “unreasonably increased the risk of harm of head impacts to Robert Geathers over and above the risks inherent to playing football.”[3] The contention being that while we all are aware that risks are inherent in the sport, the NCAA’s position as the governing body imposed on it a heightened duty of care, especially because it possessed but failed to disclose information that could have led to safer practices and better medical monitoring for athletes.
The NCAA, however, did not take the matter lying down and offered up viable and valid defenses. First, it argued that there was no concrete evidence linking Geathers’ current medical condition specifically to the time that he played collegiate football, and second, that it was South Carolina State University, and not the NCAA, who was responsible for the immediate medical care of its athletes, and that standards during Geathers’ playing era were consistent with then-current knowledge. As a catch all, the NCAA also asserted that other outside factors, including health issues specific to Geathers, may have contributed to his cognitive decline.
The Orangeburg County jury did not buy any of the NCAA’s arguments, however, finding in favor of Geathers and after only a few hours of deliberation. The jury concluded that the NCAA “negligently breached their duties” by “unreasonably increasing the risk of harm” beyond what is inherently expected in football and as a result, awarded $10 million to Robert Geathers for his personal injuries and $8 million to his wife Debra for loss of consortium. One interesting component of the verdict was that the jury found 47 specific instances of negligence, corresponding to each year from 1933 through 1980, reflecting the period the jury believed the NCAA had actionable knowledge of concussion risks but failed to act.[4]
Not surprisingly, however, the NCAA has announced it will challenge the jury award, with an NCAA spokesperson stating that it “disagreed with the verdict,” and that it “was prepared to pursue our rights on post-trial motions and on appeal, if necessary”.[5] The spokesperson emphasized that the NCAA has had prior successes in similar cases elsewhere and reiterated its position that the standards South Carolina State “followed the knowledge that existed at the time and college football did not cause Mr. Geathers’ lifelong health problems”.[6]
Sport legal experts agree that this case may have significant ramifications in that it sets a precedent for other former athletes who suffered similar injuries to follow, while also intensifying the scrutiny over how much the NCAA, and the athletic programs at its member institutions, owe their former athletes in light of emerging knowledge about head injuries and long-term health effects. And although the NCAA will undoubtably appeal, the case does bring to light, however, the broader and much needed conversation about concussion risks, transparency, and the duty of care owed to student-athletes who are currently playing and long after their playing days have ended.
[1] Orangeburg Common Pleas, Case No. 2019 CP3800550.
[2] In 1981, Geathers was the third-round pick of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills but was placed on injured reserve and never played professionally.
[3] Orangeburg Common Pleas, Case No. 2019 CP3800550.
[4] https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ncaa-found-negligent-in-concussion-trial-ordered-to-pay-ex-college-football-player-and-wife-18-million/
[5] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ncaa-south-carolina-state-football-robert-geathers-cte-concussion-lawsuit/
[6] Id.
