N.F.L., Retirees In Court Over Head Trauma Cases - NYTimes.com

Professional football players are unionized workers.  Their collective bargaining agreement provides their grievances will be resolved by arbitration with the union as their representative.  Their claims against their employers for work-related injury  are limited to negotiated health and disability benefits, and to workers compensation.  They are employed by their teams, not the league - at least in the conventional view.  But even if they are employees they may avoid the limited recovery under workers compensation if they prove they have been intentionally harmed - as in a fraud case.  In a class action former players allege they relied on assurances of the League and were harmed by its misrepresentations regarding the injuries they now suffer.  Those are among the issues in MDL-2323 IN RE: NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS' CONCUSSION INJURY LITIGATION, Docket No. 2:12-md-02323 (E.D. Pa. Jan 31, 2012), Court Docket (01/31/2012)

N.F.L., Retirees In Court Over Head Trauma Cases - NYTimes.com: 

"The N.F.L. will face off in court Tuesday against thousands of retirees in a case that will help determine the league’s role in caring for players with dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The issue in front of United States District Court Judge Anita Brody in Philadelphia is whether to grant the N.F.L.’s request to dismiss more than 200 cases brought by more than 4,000 former players who accused the league of hiding information about the dangers of head trauma. The players are seeking damages for their injuries"
****The players claim that the league knew that concussions and other trauma could lead to long-term health problems and that it committed fraud by misrepresenting the dangers of repeated hits to the head. The case should be heard in court, where a jury could award damages, not in a grievance procedure, they have said.

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