NHL Concussion Lawsuit: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction Surrounding Case

Following in the footsteps of many onetime NFL players, a group of former NHL players are in the process of suing the league for failing to protect them from and educate them about the dangers of head trauma. 

Continue for updates.   

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NHL Fighting Against Providing Medical Records of Former Players

Tuesday, May 19

Rick Westhead of TSN has more on the lawsuit, first filed in 2013:

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The National Hockey League says it would cost $13.5 million to produce the medical records for the 5,967 players who have played in the NHL since 1967 and suffered brain injuries.

The NHL says that the extraordinary cost, combined with former players' right to privacy, should be grounds to deny a request to order the league to turn medical records over to 60 former players who are suing the league. A group of 60 former NHL players including Joe Murphy, Bernie Nicholls and Gary Leeman charge that the NHL did not do enough to protect them from head injuries before it created a committee to study head trauma in 1997. 

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The NHL's suit is not yet being treated as a class-action lawsuit, though if it is given that designation, it could include many more former players.

Per TSN's report, the former players demanded that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman produce the medical records after he was compelled by the court to testify in the lawsuit in July. The league "offered to compromise and produce the complete medical information for any current or former NHL player who signs an authorization for that disclosure," but the former players rejected the proposal. 

Turning over former medical records would be a complicated endeavor, which is what the league maintains would make handing over the medical records so costly and difficult to accomplish.

How the court rules in this particular sticking point in the lawsuit will have a major effect on how this case proceeds. If the NHL is compelled to produce the medical records for the number of players who suffered head injuries in the past, it would certainly be a step in the right direction for the plaintiffs' case.