More former NFL players join legal fight against league over concussion policies -NFL News
The legal fight pressure keeps adding up on the National Football League (NFL), the representative body of the American professional football franchises.
Some lawyers’ estimates claim that the number of complainants in the lawsuits over these controverdial NFL concussion policies in federal court can soon be well over 1000, just
in Philadelphia.
In spite of the league’s claim that the players’ safety has always been its priority, almost all former players, in their respective lawsuits, have alleged
the office of keeping them in illusion about the dangers of head injuries.
The NFL office did nothing to protect the players from concussions and related injuries then and it is doing nothing even now to help them sort out their
problems, these players claim.
Mark Rypien, former quarterback of Washington Redskins, is the latest player to have entered into the legal fight against NFL over the alleged failure
of taking care of its players in the past and at present.
Rypien is a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) and champion, who had suffered concussion during his professional league career and now struggles with
failing memory.
No one probably can claim to have suffered more than Rypien is doing given the fact that one of his cousins, Rick, a National Hockey League (NHL) enforcer,
had been through some tough time for experiencing the same concussion like problems and in failing to cope with them in years of struggle finally committed suicide.
It is rather haunting experience for Rypien who himself is been through some spells of depression and feels that NFL office has failed its former players
with such problems then and now.
The former NFL star has been joined by more than a dozen new plaintiffs who are seeking compensation from the office and not much concerned about the
outcome of their fight.
Rypien said:
"If, for some reason, this doesn't go in favour of us, we've at least reached out and shown there's a group of concerned former athletes struggling with
their own issues that wants to build awareness so that no one else has to go through what we're going through.”
He added:
"If that's the only thing we get out of this, that's a win. We can make some changes, so these guys (playing in the NFL now) don't have to endure what
some of us are enduring."
The league office has declined from offering any comments on the latest episode of the legal wrangling over its concussion policies except for that all
those cases were in very initial phase.
Greg Ailleo, the league’s spokesman, in one of his remarks to earlier filed lawsuits had denied of compromising the players safety, saying that the office
had always made efforts to provide safe and secure playing environment for the professional football players.
All the lawsuits are awaiting commencement of a formal hearing.
Tags: