A Texas federal judge Wednesday voiced "grave concerns" about head trauma in football but allowed helmet maker Riddell to end a suit by the mother of a former high school player who suffered concussive brain damage and died of suicide, saying she had not connected her son's injuries to the company's products.
While U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman noted several reports and documentaries about the danger that tackle football poses to players by potentially causing chronic traumatic encephalopathy, he said plaintiff Letitia Wilbourn didn't provide enough evidence that the Riddell helmets her son DuQuan Myers wore contributed to his suicide years later.
Judge Pittman granted Riddell's motion for summary judgment and tossed the suit with prejudice, while also saying that even if Wilbourn could raise an issue of material fact on the cause of her son's injuries, the complaint would still fail due to being barred by the statute of limitations and Wilbourn's lacking the capacity to bring the claims on behalf of her son's estate because it is not yet fully established.
Continue reading the article originally published by Law360 here. BRG Sports and Riddell Inc. are represented by Bowman and Brooke's David J. Duke, Amanda Ruth McKinzie, Jenny A. Covington and Paul G. Cereghini.