[taco.vidal]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-team-wrongfull...-case-1.636989

Rick Westhead
TSN Senior Correspondent

The New Jersey Devils “wrongfully withheld” medical records from a former player who alleges brain injuries he suffered playing in the NHL have left him permanently disabled, a workers’ compensation appeals board in California has ruled.

Fourteen years after he played his final NHL game, one-time Devils enforcer Mike Peluso filed a workers’ compensation claim in San Francisco in 2012.
Three of the teams he played for during his career — the Devils, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames — and their insurance companies are listed as defendants in the proceedings.

Each defendant was given a month from the date of Peluso’s filing to give his lawyer all of his medical documents.

But in a Nov. 15 decision obtained by TSN, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board commissioner Marguerite Sweeney ruled that the Devils “wrongfully withheld” two documents that Peluso’s legal team says are crucial to his case.

One document is a Dec. 18, 1993, medical report confirming Peluso suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the ice during a fight. The second document is Feb. 21, 1994, report from a neurologist warning the Devils that Peluso could have further seizures if he suffered more head trauma.

Those reports surfaced in May 2016 and have been referenced by medical experts who testify Peluso is permanently disabled. The Devils said those reports should not be allowed into evidence because they weren’t filed within the appropriate period.