Former Ohio State cornerback Ray Griffin is one of four former college football players who have filed lawsuits against the NCAA for concussions they suffered during their college careers. Griffin’s lawsuit specifically names the Big Ten as a defendant along with the NCAA, but not Ohio State.
While the other players have not been identified, a representative for the law firm Edelson PC of Chicago, said the other players were from Tennessee, Duke, and Michigan. These four lawsuits are similar to ones filed in May for players from six other universities. This new batch of lawsuits saw them filed in federal courts while Griffin’s was in a U.S. District Court in Illinois.
Griffin, who’s older brother his two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin, was a cornerback for the Buckeyes from 1974 to 1977 before enjoying a seven-year career with the Cincinnati Bengals. His suit against the NCAA and Big Ten is a class action lawsuit. It claims to represent a large portion of former Buckeyes as well:
“All individuals who participated in Ohio State’s varsity football program between 1952 and 2010.”
According to Buckeye Extra, the reason for the wide range in dates is because it stretches from when the Big Ten and NCAA should have been aware of concussion dangers in 1952 to when serious protocols for monitoring concussions were first instituted in 2010.
“Between 1974 and 1977, (Griffin) was subjected to repeated head impacts and (traumatic brain injury) in practices and games, and suffered numerous concussions each year as a result. Over time, Griffin began to experience the consequences of these concussions. He began to struggle with severe depression, anxiety, short term memory loss, impulse problems, anger issues, and other debilitating problems.”
The lawsuit also mentions the brain disease haunting the NFL, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The lawsuit states Griffin took part in a CTE study at Boston University and displayed signs that he may have CTE due to concussions from playing football.
According to the lawsuit, the NCAA and Big Ten were negligent during the years covered in the lawsuit and didn’t treat players fairly when it came to using them to generate revenue all while further hampering their future lives.
Griffin’s lawsuit seeks the NCAA and Big Ten to compensate Griffin and the other Buckeyes for “economic, monetary, actual, consequential, compensatory, and punitive damages.”
In January of this year, the NCAA agreed on a settlement with thousands of former players on concussion related issues. It included the NCAA agreeing to create a $70 million dollar fund for brain trauma testing.
“While we are pleased the court has provided a preliminary pathway to provide significant resources for the medical monitoring of student-athletes who may suffer concussion, we are still examining the conditions placed on preliminary approval,” NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy said.
The NFL has dealt with concussion lawsuits before, and its resulted in them donating to brain research and aiding the players who sued them. It’ll be interesting to see if Griffin gets the same result from his lawsuit against the NCAA and Big Ten.
The NCAA and Big Ten have yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit.
