World Rugby, UK bodies seek to throw out ex-players’ concussion lawsuits
Rugby Union – Six Nations Championship – England v Wales – England v Wales – Twickenham, London, Britain – March 7, 2020 General view of rugby balls on the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Toby Melville
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
LONDON, July 22 : World Rugby and England and Wales’ governing bodies on Wednesday sought to throw out nearly 380 former rugby union players’ lawsuits over neurological injuries, arguing their lawyers repeatedly failed to disclose key medical evidence.
World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union are facing lawsuits from around 800 ex-amateur and professional players, who say repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows left them with serious neurological conditions.
The claimants’ lawyers allege the governing bodies breached their duty of care by failing to protect them from those risks, but World Rugby argues in its written defence that it had no such duty and that injuries are an “inherent risk” in rugby.
The case began in 2022 but has been beset by delays over disclosure, as has a parallel action by ex-rugby league players.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
World Rugby, the RFU and the WRU have now asked London’s High Court to throw out claims brought by former rugby union players because their lawyers have breached court orders requiring them to provide records, including recordings of “neurology interviews” carried out before lawsuits began.
The Rugby Football League and the British Amateur Rugby League Association are similarly applying for around 130 ex-players’ lawsuits to be thrown out.
Neil Block, a lawyer representing the RFU, told the court that “enough is enough”. “These are important documents … an order was made that we were entitled to have them and we have tried in every way,” he said.
Lawyers representing the claimants, however, say they have provided the vast majority of the documents required and that throwing out their claims would be an “extreme response”.
“This litigation is of significant public interest and societal importance for the continuance of contact/collision sports in the UK,” their lawyer Susan Rodway said in written arguments.
“It would be highly undesirable for a significant number of the former players to lose their claims on procedural grounds.”
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
