[News] NHL in talks to settle concussion lawsuit

[Boreal]

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-in-talks-to-s...says-1.1168026

Lawyers for the National Hockey League have engaged in settlement negotiations with attorneys for former players who allege the league lied to them about the dangers of repeated head trauma and concussions.

[cam_wmh]

Can more players enter the lawsuit, after learning this?

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Can more players enter the lawsuit, after learning this?

I would imagine, it would make sense to get the entire thing cleaned up & taken care of.



@rwesthead

Why would the NHL want to settle this 5-year-old lawsuit now?
"Juries are unpredictable. Every trial is a crapshoot.”
Also, details on a few former NHL all stars filing new cases vs the league.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Makes sense from the league's perspective. They don't want to admit guilt for future liability concerns, and paying money will make this suit go away. The players' case may not be airtight, but it's probably strong enough to convince a jury. I think they league is in trouble on this one.

[dissentowner]

I think it is a cash grab. Sorry, but you got into the game knowing the risks. There are other careers where you put your health on the line and you don't see those people suing if they get injured, you knew it was a possibility going into it. It isn't like these guys don't get well compensated for playing a game for a living either.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I think it is a cash grab. Sorry, but you got into the game knowing the risks. There are other careers where you put your health on the line and you don't see those people suing if they get injured, you knew it was a possibility going into it. It isn't like these guys don't get well compensated for playing a game for a living either.

I'd say that's true when it comes to most injuries but the science on brain injuries has really progressed a great deal in the last 10-20 years. It wasn't that long ago that we had cute euphemisms for concussions: "he got his bell rung", "seeing stars", etc. People really weren't aware that getting even a minor concussion could lead to long term consequences.

My issue with this lawsuit is that how was the league supposed to know the science of brain injuries before there was any data? Did they actively conceal it from the players? The lawsuit claims that the league lied to the players about head trauma but was the league in a position to be able to lie to the players? Was this information available to the league?

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Did they actively conceal it from the players? The lawsuit claims that the league lied to the players about head trauma but was the league in a position to be able to lie to the players? Was this information available to the league?

Weren’t there some emails that were released a while back that did indicate the league was aware but didn’t act or communicate the findings with the players? I can’t remember if it was the NHL or the NFL but I remember hearing something about that at one point.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I think it is a cash grab. Sorry, but you got into the game knowing the risks. There are other careers where you put your health on the line and you don't see those people suing if they get injured, you knew it was a possibility going into it. It isn't like these guys don't get well compensated for playing a game for a living either.

Did you say the same about the NFL & its players?

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I think it is a cash grab. Sorry, but you got into the game knowing the risks. There are other careers where you put your health on the line and you don't see those people suing if they get injured, you knew it was a possibility going into it. It isn't like these guys don't get well compensated for playing a game for a living either.

It’s capitalism. One of the best ways to make change is to hit them in the pocketbook.

[sureLoss]

Bill Daly says these are mediation talks ordered by the court and the NHL's position has not changed.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1037394162591694848

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Did you say the same about the NFL & its players?

Absolutely.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I think it is a cash grab. Sorry, but you got into the game knowing the risks. There are other careers where you put your health on the line and you don't see those people suing if they get injured, you knew it was a possibility going into it. It isn't like these guys don't get well compensated for playing a game for a living either.

I would say when most these guys got into the game they did not know the risk
Moreover the justification that any of this is ok because they made a lot of money is sickening to me
Steve Montedor is dead but it’s ok because he made a lot of money right?
What are these other careers you are referring to?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I would say when most these guys got into the game they did not know the risk
Moreover the justification that any of this is ok because they made a lot of money is sickening to me
Steve Montedor is dead but it’s ok because he made a lot of money right?
What are these other careers you are referring to?

If a fireman is injured fighting a fire does he sue the department? Or a police officer? Will a boxer sue the IBF or WBC if he gets knocked out? How about UFC? Nobody is not saying it is not tragic some of these players have passed on after the game but if a war vet gets hit by a concussion bomb should he be able to sue the country? With certain careers come certain risks and you know the risks going in.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I think it is a cash grab. Sorry, but you got into the game knowing the risks. There are other careers where you put your health on the line and you don't see those people suing if they get injured, you knew it was a possibility going into it. It isn't like these guys don't get well compensated for playing a game for a living either.

Define “risks”. Short term risks, sure, long term risks is another story.

By your logic one should never receive compensation in a car accident as anyone ever entering a motor vehicle knew the risks.

Saying it’s a cash grab makes it seem like they’re gold digging when there is proven scientific evidence these men suffered ill health effects from repeated physical trauma.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If a fireman is injured fighting a fire does he sue the department? Or a police officer? Will a boxer sue the IBF or WBC if he gets knocked out? How about UFC? Nobody is not saying it is not tragic some of these players have passed on after the game but if a war vet gets hit by a concussion bomb should he be able to sue the country? With certain careers come certain risks and you know the risks going in.

Again no they didn’t know the risks
The question is what did the nhl know and did they keep that info from their players and take reasonable steps to prevent the harm
That’s what the law suit is about
If the people that employed those in your comparisons similarly withheld information related to the health or harm being done to them then yes they should be sued too

[Mattman]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If a fireman is injured fighting a fire does he sue the department? Or a police officer? Will a boxer sue the IBF or WBC if he gets knocked out? How about UFC? Nobody is not saying it is not tragic some of these players have passed on after the game but if a war vet gets hit by a concussion bomb should he be able to sue the country? With certain careers come certain risks and you know the risks going in.

I agree with this. 100%.

but..

The Netflix doc, Ice Guardians, about enforcers may sum it up the best. I believe it was Kevin Westgarth who talks about it, but basically you have 200 pound weights, who get up to speeds of about 40 kmh (compared to Usain Bolt at 37 kmh, pretty damn fast) and you take that weight directly to the power house of the human body, the brain.

'The human body becomes a weaponized force' (paraphrasing)

Yes you can argue that player's should have know the risk going into the sport, but concussion protocols and concussion research is fairly new to the sports world. So when a team doctor has cleared a player with extreme concussion symptoms or issues, it in some way does fall on the team and in some aspects on the league.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If a fireman is injured fighting a fire does he sue the department? Or a police officer? Will a boxer sue the IBF or WBC if he gets knocked out? How about UFC? Nobody is not saying it is not tragic some of these players have passed on after the game but if a war vet gets hit by a concussion bomb should he be able to sue the country? With certain careers come certain risks and you know the risks going in.

Does the fire department respond to deaths of fireman on the job by not acknowledging the fire killed them? If asked whether fires may kill their firemen, does the fire department respond that the science is not conclusive on that issue?

Ditto the soldier example. The armed forces readily state you can die as part of this job. But when you deny something can harm (Agent Orange), then there's a problem.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If a fireman is injured fighting a fire does he sue the department? Or a police officer? Will a boxer sue the IBF or WBC if he gets knocked out? How about UFC? Nobody is not saying it is not tragic some of these players have passed on after the game but if a war vet gets hit by a concussion bomb should he be able to sue the country? With certain careers come certain risks and you know the risks going in.

This isn’t about the risks so much as it is about negligence and withholding information. If a fire fighter goes into a burning building and gets blown away because there were propane tanks inside that building that no one knew about it’s a very different scenario than if the fire chief knew there were propane tanks in that building and sent them in there anyways.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If a fireman is injured fighting a fire does he sue the department? Or a police officer? Will a boxer sue the IBF or WBC if he gets knocked out? How about UFC? Nobody is not saying it is not tragic some of these players have passed on after the game but if a war vet gets hit by a concussion bomb should he be able to sue the country? With certain careers come certain risks and you know the risks going in.

Firemen, police officers and soldiers get (or should get) disability pensions, paid medical, counseling etc.There are risks in their job that they know up front and they accept that risk. NHL players (as well lots of sports) did not know decades ago that they might have their lives ruined by "getting their bell rung". Add in the fact that the NHL has blown them off and is denying the hits having anything to do with their depression, addictions, suicides and death.


This argument that they made lots of money so screw them is such bullcrap. If you started up a game show where you gave the contestants one of 20 ropes to pull, one in 20 ropes would electrocute them but 19 would win them a million dollars you would have people lined up for miles to take their shot. Guaranteed you'd get good ratings from people who don't care and just want to see the carnage. Hey, they knew the risks and they made lots of money right?

[Red_Baron]

My question is how could the NHL withold knowledge about concussions when so much of the research on the long term effects has only been discovered and published by the medical community in the last decade?


I hope there is some compensation for those truly affected but I do hope they carefully examine some of the cases and reduce awards for some of the players that inflicted their share of the damage to their peers.