Mark Rypien Sues NFL Over Head Injuries
Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien is a plaintiff in a new class-action lawsuit filed last week which seeks medical care and compensation for head injuries received while playing.
The suit, which was filed on March 23 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, claims that the NFL knew about the dangers and risks posed to players.
The suit contends that league officials were aware of players with "repetitive traumatic brain injuries and concussions for decades, but deliberately ignored and actively concealed" information, according to court documents.
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This is the most recent litigation concerning concussion and head trauma related class action suits leveled against the NFL by former players.
Currently the league is involved in about a half-dozen class-action suits and even more multi-action suits which involve an estimated 1,000 former players, according to Gene Locks whose firm is representing more than 600 former players, including Rypien, in class-action suits.
"We think the league delayed, didn't do a competent job of monitoring, and in many cases disregarded what it knew about concussions," Locks told The Washington Post in a telephone interview.
According to the suit, Rypien, 49, suffered multiple concussions and head injuries during his playing days. And he continues to suffer from "various neurological conditions and symptoms related to multiple head traumas," the suit said.
The plaintiffs are asking for "medical monitoring, as well as compensation and financial recovery" for what has been described as long-term and chronic "injuries, financial losses, expenses and intangible losses."
"Our class-action wants the league to check all of these players out, and if they're okay, give them a clean bill of health," Locks said.
"And if not, we want them to pay for medical care so these players' conditions, hopefully, don't get worse," he continued. "And if the players' conditions are serious enough, we hope the league will give them compensation."
