On December 18, 2013, 11 lawsuits against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) were consolidated by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). Jurisdiction for all of the lawsuits now lies in Chicago where the first suit was filed in 2011, and is considered to be reasonably close the NCAA head
quarters in Indianapolis.
2011 Lawsuit
The original lawsuit was filed on behalf of football players Adrian Arrington and Derek Owens, hockey player Kyle Solomon, and soccer player Angel Palacios. The lawsuit claims negligence on the part of the NCAA, for failing to adopt a concussion policy until 2010, and because rather than establishing minimum standards for assessing head injuries and when players should be returned to play, the formal policy merely requires each member school to adopt a concussion management plan.
Consolidated Lawsuits
In total, 11 lawsuits were filed on behalf of 23 athletes who competed from the 1970’s through 2012; 21 of the plaintiffs were football players.
The decision to consolidate the cases in the Northern District of Illinois was based on the fact that there was so much overlap between the cases, all of the plaintiffs seek medical monitoring, and the original suit filed there, in 2011, is much farther along than the other cases. The following 10 cases were filed after it was announced that progress was being made toward a settlement in the original case.
