Sep. 21, 2013

Santa Clara law school tackles concussions

Santa Clara University School of Law held its annual Sports Law Symposium on campus Sept. 12. A series of ESPN reporters, former professional athletes, attorneys and professors shared their views on concussions in professional and youth sports. Former NFL player Shawn D. Stuckey, now a litigator for Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP, said he thought the NFL's settlement with retired players over concussions would actually reduce the league's incentive to prevent the injuries in the future, because it was released from future liability. He was also skeptical about the effectiveness of the education budget included in the settlement. "I think it's all lip service to parents," he said. University of Missouri School of Law professor Douglas E. Abrams said litigators would be out looking for schools that have enough money to be worthy targets but don't have adequate medical staffing for their sports events. He said big concussion cases against schools in various states always cause the rest of the school districts to reexamine their policies. "That's the good thing about litigation, quite frankly," he said. Rob Carey, managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP's Phoenix office, discussed his class action concussion lawsuit against the NCAA. Arrington et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 11-CV-06356 (N.D. Ill., filed Sept. 28, 2011). Carey said the biggest problem at the college level is the lack of health coverage for the athletes. He said the fact that students aren't classified as employees means their teams have very minimal requirements in terms of insuring their players. He said this was particularly ironic because everyone else at a game, from coaches to popcorn vendors, gets health insurance. "Anyone else standing on that sideline has more coverage than they do." Santa Clara Law associate dean and professor Bradley Joondeph said federal courts are reducing class actions as a means of regulation and the trend extends beyond partisan boundaries. "There are a lot of Clinton- and Obama-era justices that feel the same way about this." — Joshua Sebold