NHL Concussion Class Action Lawsuits Consolidated, Sent to Minn.

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On Tuesday, three class action lawsuits alleging concussion injuries in the National Hockey League were consolidated by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation and sent to Minnesota.

Lead plaintiffs, 10 former NHL hockey players, alleged in their class action lawsuits that the NHL fosters violence and puts players at risk of concussion and other severe head injury for billions of dollars in profit. “Every blow to the head is dangerous. Both repeated concussions and sub-concussions cause permanent brain damage. During practice and games, a player can sustain close to one thousand or more hits to the head in one season without any documented incapacitating concussion,” the class action lawsuit stated. “Such repeated blows result in permanently impaired brain function.”

The players originally filed the class action lawsuits in New York, Washington D.C., and Minnesota. The NHL said in their filings and motions that they preferred the case to be consolidated in Washington D.C., while the players said they preferred the city where they had filed their class action lawsuits, either New York, Washington D.C., or Minnesota.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson will hear the consolidated NHL class action lawsuits in Minnesota, according to documents issued by the JPML. “On the basis of the papers filed and hearing session held,” wrote the JPML, “we find that these actions involve common questions of fact, and that centralization in the district of Minnesota will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation.” The JPML also noted, “No action is significantly further advanced than another, and this district provides a geographically central location for parties and witnesses, many of whom may be located in nearby Canada.”

Nine plaintiffs had originally filed an NHL concussion class action lawsuit in New York in April. Plaintiffs included former player Dan LaCouture who played between 1998 and 2009. The New York class action alleged that evidence of the increased risks of head trauma was concealed by the NFL. The class action brought in Minnesota federal court by lead plaintiff Jonathon Rohloff in July alleged that NHL players were not warned by the NHL that they would suffer “hundreds of hits to the head” during their hockey seasons.

The NFL concussion class action lawsuits were filed shortly after the National Football League agreed to settle similar claims brought by professional football players alleging that the NFL failed to warn and concealed the risk of head injury and concussion. Those claims were settled for $765 million and involved thousands of former players in multidistrict litigation. The judge in that case later ordered the settlement fund uncapped to provide more funds to class members.

The National Hockey League players are represented by Stuart A. Davidson of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, by Andrew G. Slutkin, Andrew C. White, William N. Sinclair, Steven D. Silverman and Joseph F. Murphy Jr. of Silverman Thompson Slutkin & White LLC, and others.

The consolidated NHL Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is In re: National Hockey League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation,  MDL No. 2551, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.