Knowledge of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and Concussion Cannot Support a Negligence Suit against Major Sporting Organisations by Athletes. Or Can It?

Abstract

The settlement of the National Football League (NFL) Players Concussion Litigation was founded on a unique set of circumstances: in essence that the NFL investigated the risk of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy-like harm and then denied the risk. These circumstances are unlikely to be repeated in any of the thousands of lawsuits presently proposed by "non-NFL athletes" around the globe. These athletes face the far more difficult task of proving their overseeing sporting organisation had, or should have had, knowledge that repeated head trauma in playing contact sport can cause severe long-term cognitive harm, but to do so relying on "archived" reports dating back decades.