Hall of Fame American Football quarterback Dan Marino has joined the legal battle with the National Football League over concussions in a lawsuit along with 14 other former players, according to court documents filed last week in Philadelphia.
The 18-page suit filed in federal court claims that the NFL knew there was a link between concussions and long-term health problems for decades and “concealed information about football-related brain injuries,” the Los Angeles Times has reported.
Marino, 52, who spent his entire 17-year career with the Dolphins and set numerous NFL passing records, and the other players asked for monetary damages to be determined at a jury trial and for medical monitoring for the former players.
Each player submitted a short-form complaint with standard language that they suffer from brain injuries and exhibit symptoms that have developed over time. The document did not specify the nature of their injuries.
Marino spent 12 seasons as an analyst for CBS television following his retirement in 1999 before leaving the network after the 2013 season.
This latest filing follows a $760 million (€557,472,920) settlement between the NFL and more than 4,500 former players over concussions that was rejected in January by a US judge who said it might not be enough to pay all of the affected players.
Up to 20,000 former players could ultimately still be eligible for payments over the settlement’s 65-year span.
“I am primarily concerned that not all retired NFL football players who ultimately receive a qualifying diagnosis, or their related claimants, will be paid,” US District Judge Anita Brody wrote in papers filed in federal court in Philadelphia.
That lawsuit, filed in 2012, contended that the league hid the dangers of brain injury among players while profiting from the sport’s violent physical contact.
The NFL has contended that it never concealed information related to head or brain injuries that might occur while playing in the league.
Sol Weiss, one of the lawyers who filed the Marino group’s lawsuit, is also one of the attorneys who settled the class action concussion case with the NFL.
A growing body of academic research shows that repeated hits to the head may produce a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can lead to aggression and dementia.
The research has already prompted the NFL to make changes on the field, including banning the most dangerous helmet-to-helmet hits and requiring teams to keep players who have taken hits to the head off the field if they show certain symptoms including dizziness and memory gaps.
There have been suicides in recent years involving current and former NFL players, including Jovan Belcher, Junior Seau, Ray Easterling and Dave Duerson.
