GPW is Helping Former Football Player with ALS Sue the NCAA
A Goldberg, Persky & White, P.C. client is suing the NCAA for not informing him of the dangers of playing football. He now has Lou Gehrig’s disease as a result of playing the sport, and his case is going to trial in January.
A case management order was placed on August 12 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, requiring all discovery to be completed by September 2. Our client attended the United States Military Academy and played middle linebacker on the football team from 1985 to 1989. While playing and practicing, he sustained many hits to the head.
After graduating, our client experienced numbness, twitching, muscle atrophy, fatigue, loss of mobility, slurred speech, and weakness. In April 2015, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). His disease is the result of his NCAA career where he had multiple hits to the head.
An NCAA bylaw states that the NCAA exists to ensure the athletes who participate in college athletics are safe and healthy. The suit against it states that the NCAA did not follow this bylaw because it did not know about the long term effects of repeated blows to the head, and did not inform our client of the risks.
The NCAA did not do what it was supposed to do, and now our client has many neurological symptoms. The NCAA should have known that multiple head impacts can cause serious diseases like ALS and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. The organization put many people including our client in danger by not knowing the health ramifications of multiple head impacts and other health issues caused by football.
The NCAA’s breach of duty has caused our client to experience symptoms including muscle twitching, pulmonary function decline, speech impairment, and muscle loss. While seeking treatment for his many symptoms our client found out that he has ALS.
We are seeking economic and non-economic damages. Jason Luckasevic, Diana Nickerson Jacobs, and Jason T. Shipp from our Pittsburgh location and Eugene Egdorf of Shrader & Associates in Houston, Texas are representing our client.
If you have ALS or another serious illness from playing football you may be entitled to compensation. Fill out out contact form or call 412-471-3980 to speak to one of our staff and learn more.
