Things that make one wonder about why the CTE case against the WWE has not moved forward faster than it has. The facts alleged in the NCAA case are similar to the claims made in the pending CTE cases against the WWE. Does anyone believe that wrestling is less dangerous than playing in the NCAA? Or that the WWE knew less than other sports organizations about the long term risks of head truama? Should a jury get to decide the WWE cases? The reader will also note the the NCAA has already agreed to help its former athletes with a $70 million dollar fund. The WWE has offered ZERO dollars to alleviate the CTE health crisis in pro wrestlers.
(June 15, 2018) — The NCAA settled a case involving the widow of a former University of Texas defensive lineman.
The alleged the NCAA could and should have prevented her late husband’s chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The two sides reached a settlement Friday, days into the first-ever trial about the NCAA’s responsibility for a football player’s CTE.
The Plaintiff Debra Hardin-Ploetz and the NCAA reached their agreement in the third day of the trial in Dallas before District Judge Ken Molberg The judge did not disclose any of the terms of the settlement.
The trial began with opening statements with plaintiffs lawyers telling the jury that when Mr. Ploetz began playing football at UT, he knew he was risking broken limbs, but was given no warning from the NCAA that he might suffer long-term neurological damage even though the organization had purportedly known for decades about the dangers of head trauma.
It was the first time a jury has been asked to consider what the NCAA purportedly knew about the head trauma associated with football and what it knew about CTE, the disease that allegedly gave Mr. Ploetz “10 years of suffering and decline” before his death in 2015.
The defense attorney representing the NCAA, told the jury during his opening statement that the plaintiff was engaging in “Monday morning quarterbacking” and trying to say the NCAA should have known in the 1960s that football caused CTE — a contention that is still not accepted in the medical literature and which was only first suggested in a 2005 case study, he said.
The NCAA in 2014 has already agreed to provide a $70 million medical monitoring fund and set aside $5 million for concussion research to settle multidistrict litigation brought by former student-athletes who accused the organization of failing to address concussions arising from football, basketball and other high-contact sports.
And in 2015, the NFL got final approval for an uncapped settlement with roughly 5,000 former players who alleged the league knew about the long-term risks of head injuries and concealed them. Under that deal, players diagnosed with CTE can receive up to $4 million.
The case is Debra M. Hardin-Ploetz, individually and on behalf of the Estate of Gregory Ploetz, v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, docket number DC-17-00676.