NCAA Agrees to Mediation with Concussion Class Action Lawsuit Plaintiffs

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

According to an Oct. 18 filing in Tennessee federal court, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has agreed to enter mediation with a group of plaintiffs who are part of a class action lawsuit accusing the organization of failing to protect student-athletes from the effects of concussions.

Lead plaintiff Chris Walker, former University of Tennessee defensive end, and the NCAA filed the joint motion setting a Feb. 18 mediation date. Their dispute will be mediated by former U.S. District Judge Layn Phillips, who recently facilitated a $765 million class action settlement with the National Football League (NFL) that involved similar allegations.

The parties filed a joint request for a stay pending a decision by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JMPL), which is currently deciding whether to consolidate this class action lawsuit with a similar action that was filed in Illinois. The Illinois class action lawsuit was brought in Sept. 2011 by former Eastern Illinois University football player Adrian Arrington, who claimed that the NCAA was negligent because it failed to warn football players and other student-athletes of the risk of long-term complications associated with repeated concussions. Further, he argued that the organization was negligent because it failed to develop guidelines for when a player could safely return to play after a concussion. Plaintiffs in this action agreed to enter mediation with Phillips beginning in November.

Walker and two other former football players filed their class action lawsuit last month. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the Illinois action moved to intervene in Walker’s class action lawsuit, seeking to dismiss the case, transfer it to Illinois or stay the action under the first-to-file doctrine. Because the two class action lawsuits are essentially the same, the attorneys involved in the Illinois action argue that the first-to-file doctrine should apply.

However, Walker argues that the cases differ because the Illinois action seeks to represent male and female athletes from seven different sports, while Walker’s case only seeks to include all former NCAA football players from all 50 states. On the other hand, the Illinois action only seeks to represent players who participated in sports in 18 states from 2004 until the present. Walker has opposed the motion to transfer the class action lawsuit.

The JMPL is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the motion to transfer and consolidate the cases on Dec. 5.

The NCAA continues to be hit with concussion-related class action lawsuits. Earlier this month, two former football players from the University of Washington filed a similar class action lawsuit against the NCAA and helmet maker Riddell Inc.

Walker is represented by Michael D. Hausfeld, Richard S. Lewis and Mindy B. Pava of Hausfeld LLP and the Law Offices of Gordon Ball.

The NCAA Concussion Class Action Lawsuit is Walker, et al. v. NCAA, Case No. 1:13-cv-00293, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.