The City of Brotherly Love is now the venue of three lawsuits filed by former pro-football players who claim their concussons lead to permanent brain injury. And a decision will soon be made about whether similar suits across the country should be consolidated there, according to the Associated Press.
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The latest lawsuit filed in Philadelphia was brought by ex-Philadelphia Eagles players Ron Solt, Joe Panos, Rich Miano, four other players and their spouses, according to AP.
The wire service quoted part of Wednesday’s lawsuit: “Rather than warn players that they risked permanent brain injury if they returned to play too soon after sustaining a concussion, the NFL actively deceived players, by misrepresenting to them that concussions did not present serious, life-altering risks.”
More than 100 former players filed a similar lawsuit in Philadelphia earlier this month, and the very first complaint of this kind was brought against the National Football League in Philly last year, AP reported.
So far at least eight suits, claiming that the NFL ignored or kept secret evidence tying concussions to permanent brain injuries, have been filed in New Jersey, New York, Florida and Georgia, according to AP.
The league is seeking to consolidate the lawsuits in Philadelphia, where the very first case filed last year has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Anita Brody, AP reported.
The NFL denies the allegations in the lawsuits, and claims the litigation should be thrown out because the claims are prohibited under collective bargaining agreements.
One of the plaintiffs in the suits is former Minnestota Viking Brent Boyd, whose lawyers, according to AP, claim he is the only living player diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. It is a degenerative brain disease that has been detected in tests on brain tissue from deceased football and pro hockey players.
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