Steve Montador's family sues NHL over concussions player suffered

[TOMapleLaughs]

 

Quote

 

Steve Montador's family sues NHL over concussions player suffered

The family of the late Steve Montador is suing the NHL over concussions and other brain injuries the defenceman suffered during his playing career.

 

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. federal court, alleges that the league collected data on concussions as far back as 1997 but failed to warn Montador about the dangers.

 

Montador died in February, and an autopsy showed the 35-year-old suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative disease that can be caused by repetitive brain trauma.

 

In the lawsuit, the family alleges that Montador suffered "thousands of sub-concussive brain traumas" along with multiple concussions.

The 34-page complaint states that the NHL "failed to keep [Montador] reasonably safe during his career and utterly failed to provide him with crucial medical information on the permanent ramifications of brain trauma."

Montador played 571 regular-season and 43 playoff games for the Calgary Flames (2001-2005), Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks.

 

 

His father, Paul, is named as the plaintiff in the lawsuit and the NHL and NHL board of governors as the defendants.

 

The allegations against the league have not been proven in court.

 

"We had heard through media sources that that was likely a possibility, but I'm not going to comment on it," commissioner Gary Bettman said at the league's board of governors meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. "We're not litigating publicly."

 

In the complaint, Montador's family says he experienced "significant memory issues, sleep disturbances, chronic pain, a substance abuse problem, photosensitivity, mood and behavioural changes, decreased appetite, anxiety and depression" during and after his NHL career.

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/montator-family-lawsuit-nhl-1.3355985

 

More and more this is popping up.  Is the NHL liable though?  Or at what point do players need to be held accountable for their own actions?

[-SN-]

10 minutes ago, TOMapleLaughs said:

 

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/montator-family-lawsuit-nhl-1.3355985

 

More and more this is popping up.  Is the NHL liable though?  Or at what point do players need to be held accountable for their own actions?

If the league withheld the data and failed to inform the players about the dangers, the NHL is accountable. 

[Edlerberry]

everyone knows playing a game that smashes your brain around is bad for your health, and just like 99.9 percent of X-ray patients don't get cancer, a small percentage do. it's risk, like everything in life, and you balance that with the benefits of engaging in risky activity.

 

in this case, he was paid millions of dollars to work out, travel, and play the game he loves for 8 months a year. Nobody forced him to do that, he had to beat out all the others who fought for his job. the league even makes rules to limit injury. the coaching staff of the team tells him how to play, not the nhl.

 

next up - 6'10 retired nba star sues the league because his knees blew out 5 years after retirement and the doctor said it was from high impact running. 

- baseball star sues mlb for his steroid related health problems, despite the league having rules against it, he argues its use is 'implied' as the way to stay competitive and useful.

 

[TOMapleLaughs]

51 minutes ago, Edlerberry said:

everyone knows playing a game that smashes your brain around is bad for your health, and just like 99.9 percent of X-ray patients don't get cancer, a small percentage do. it's risk, like everything in life, and you balance that with the benefits of engaging in risky activity.

 

in this case, he was paid millions of dollars to work out, travel, and play the game he loves for 8 months a year. Nobody forced him to do that, he had to beat out all the others who fought for his job. the league even makes rules to limit injury. the coaching staff of the team tells him how to play, not the nhl.

 

next up - 6'10 retired nba star sues the league because his knees blew out 5 years after retirement and the doctor said it was from high impact running. 

- baseball star sues mlb for his steroid related health problems, despite the league having rules against it, he argues its use is 'implied' as the way to stay competitive and useful.

 

I think everyone has the common sense to figure this stuff out on their own.  However common sense and liability are often incompatible.  Lawyers HATE common sense.

[Gurn]

1 hour ago, StealthNuck said:

If the league withheld the data and failed to inform the players about the dangers, the NHL is accountable.

Pretty much this^^^,

Will add if the league knew about the danger of repeated concussions and did not pass on that info they will be screwed in court.

 Somewhat related, didn't the nfl? have a case of they did not know something and  it turned out someone in the NFL had received notice, but "neglected to pass it on"?

[falcon45ca]

Hmmm, "thousands of non-concussive head traumas" along with the concussions? He didn't even play 600 games, it's pretty hard to believe that all of those "thousands" can be laid at the feet of the NHL.

Players have to be told by the NHL that repeated head injuries is bad for your health? Isn't that a doctor's job? Plus, no duh? 

[Intoewsables]

6 minutes ago, falcon45ca said:

Hmmm, "thousands of non-concussive head traumas" along with the concussions? He didn't even play 600 games, it's pretty hard to believe that all of those "thousands" can be laid at the feet of the NHL.

Players have to be told by the NHL that repeated head injuries is bad for your health? Isn't that a doctor's job? Plus, no duh? 

If you have a link that proves everyone knew about the dangers of concussions 15-20 years ago, I'd love to see it. The point is that players had no idea how dangerous taking repeated blows to the head could be. Did they know it was bad? Yeah, probably. Did they know it could lead to a myriad of health problems down the road? Unlikely. If it comes out that the NHL knew about the risks and decided not to tell anyone in fear of hurting the entertainment value, they're going to be in a world of trouble.

The lack of sympathy around here is incredible. These guys are still ****ing human beings who deserve a safe working environment. The vast majority of hockey players aren't going to make enough to get them through to retirement, and they're not going to be able to find a decent job if they're dealing with PCS for god-knows-how-long.

[-SN-]

4 minutes ago, Intoewsables said:

If you have a link that proves everyone knew about the dangers of concussions 15-20 years ago, I'd love to see it. The point is that players had no idea how dangerous taking repeated blows to the head could be. Did they know it was bad? Yeah, probably. Did they know it could lead to a myriad of health problems down the road? Unlikely. If it comes out that the NHL knew about the risks and decided not to tell anyone in fear of hurting the entertainment value, they're going to be in a world of trouble.

I think this is the key point people are missing. Nobody knew how dangerous it was. If the NHL had the data and didn't share it with the players to inform them how bad the problem was, they're at fault. The NFL is actually going through the same thing right now. Concussions are a massive issue. 

[Cerridwen]

It's going to be interesting to check the dates on those 'secret' NHL emails that the players in the class action suit and W5 have petitioned the courts to have unsealed. Hopefully they will also benefit the court case Steve Montador's family has filed. It's about time this whole 'who knew what and when' issue is blown wide open. Enough of the bull$&!#. I hope Bettman and Campbell are streaking their tightie whities brown right about now. They are looking very bad and culpable in the emails that have ALREADY been released to the public.

[TOMapleLaughs]

You have to be pretty silly to think that multiple blows to the head wouldn't be considered a hazard.  Boxing has been around forever and yes, the dangers of it were well known for a long, long time.

If the debate is about just how dangerous concussions are or how many can should sustain, well that might lead nowhere as the only truly safe answers are 'very dangerous' and  'zero.'  In that case, there could be no NHL players and no NHL, so...

If it's about whether the NHL knew about the dangers and purposely hid them, then there's more of a case of course, but the provability might not be there.

If it's about whether the players also knew about the dangers, but chose to ignore them in search of personal gains, that's a whole different, but valid, issue.  I'm thinking OF COURSE the players know of the dangers.  Concussions and brain trauma have been happening since the birth of the human skull, never mind since the birth of hockey.  Why must we be this purposefully blind to common sense?

Then you have to wonder if these players, who are richly compensated, are in essence earning 'hazard pay', but that's a side debate that probably won't fly as players and families are looking for bulk handouts.

 

When Lindros and Kariya were all KO'd by Stevens, Montador was entering the NHL.  This events I would consider ample warning of what it could be like for him in the league. 

If he was truly concerned for his well-being, he would have turned away from the NHL right then and there.  He did not, and that action I would consider his consent.  You're damn right he knew the risks.  All these guys do.

[Chalky]

I can't speak to the legal aspect of the NHL's liability, I have absolutely no clue how it will play out in the legal system, but I would wager it will end up in the courts to reach a settlement or ruling.  I heard on 1040 yesterday that Montador had something crazy like 14 documented concussions in his career.  If that is indeed the truth, and there are emails or documents suggesting the NHL was aware of the dangerous compounding effects of concussions while Montador was playing, then the Montadors have a case.  Questions I would like to know are, when did the NHL begin to communicate information to teams or team Doctors regarding concussions, and also, did the NHL sit on the information for any significant period after finding out how devastating the effects are.  I know there are emails that downplay the seriousness of the injuries, but I don't know at what point it became clearly evident that concussions were a issue, and how long after getting this info did they start to react.  My gut says the NHL are going to be found negligent.

[Nave]

Found this on another article and it's just heart-breaking: 

Chris Montador always knew his brother as an upbeat person with a positive outlook on life and someone who always looked for solutions. What he saw that Christmas was a completely different personality. “He wasn’t my brother. He was like a different person inside his body and it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart today. He wanted to be the same guy, but he just couldn’t.”

“He just either stopped breathing or his heart went. With respect to his brain, I don’t know how many cylinders were working in there. And as the days have gone on, I think my brother knew he was going to pass away early. He never said that to me, but I just feel he kind of knew that. And as my dad said, he packed 70 years into 35.”

[Nuxfanabroad]

Good for this family. Wish they could give Bettman the pinata-treatment. Heck..wish we ALL could.

[falcon45ca]

2 hours ago, Intoewsables said:

If you have a link that proves everyone knew about the dangers of concussions 15-20 years ago, I'd love to see it. The point is that players had no idea how dangerous taking repeated blows to the head could be. Did they know it was bad? Yeah, probably. Did they know it could lead to a myriad of health problems down the road? Unlikely. If it comes out that the NHL knew about the risks and decided not to tell anyone in fear of hurting the entertainment value, they're going to be in a world of trouble.

The lack of sympathy around here is incredible. These guys are still ****ing human beings who deserve a safe working environment. The vast majority of hockey players aren't going to make enough to get them through to retirement, and they're not going to be able to find a decent job if they're dealing with PCS for god-knows-how-long.

http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/jns.1987.67.2.0197

Published in 1987. (That was super easy to find, which means there's probably a lot more from a lot earlier out there)

Atheletes are very well compensated for their work, in large part because of the dangers associated with it.

If a pro athlete can't figure out how to retire on an average salary of a million dollars a year (they made 2.4 on average in 2011) over an average of 5.5 year career then that's their problem. That's way more money than most people will ever see in two lifetimes. 

 

 

[King Heffy]

5 hours ago, Edlerberry said:

everyone knows playing a game that smashes your brain around is bad for your health, and just like 99.9 percent of X-ray patients don't get cancer, a small percentage do. it's risk, like everything in life, and you balance that with the benefits of engaging in risky activity.

 

in this case, he was paid millions of dollars to work out, travel, and play the game he loves for 8 months a year. Nobody forced him to do that, he had to beat out all the others who fought for his job. the league even makes rules to limit injury. the coaching staff of the team tells him how to play, not the nhl.

 

next up - 6'10 retired nba star sues the league because his knees blew out 5 years after retirement and the doctor said it was from high impact running. 

- baseball star sues mlb for his steroid related health problems, despite the league having rules against it, he argues its use is 'implied' as the way to stay competitive and useful.

 

Problem is the NHL has repeatedly demonstrated that they are not willing to discipline players in a professional and unbiased manner, including willingly enabling a conflict-of-interest situation to go on for years.  The DPS's corruption, it could be argued, directly and negatively affected the safety of players on the ice.  Blatant corruption is NOT what players sign up for when suiting up and after Campbellgate the NHL will have a difficult time arguing that the necessary precautions were taken.

Unfortunately, the NHL isn't going to clean up its act voluntarily.  Hopefully the family win this case so those involved are finally held accountable.