The WWE was hit with a pretty big lawsuit by more than 50 plaintiffs who have performed with WWE or its predecessors since the 1970s, claiming the company didn’t do enough to protect its wrestlers from brain injuries.
Included in the lawsuit are some pretty big names, Joseph `Road Warrior Animal’ Laurinaitis, Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, Paul `Mr Wonderful’ Orndorff, Chris Pallies (King Kong Bundy) and others.
WWE doesn’t seem all that worried about the lawsuit, and put out a statement saying they feel it will be dismissed.
“This is another ridiculous attempt by the same attorney who has previously filed class action lawsuits against WWE, both of which have been dismissed,” the statement said.
“A federal judge has already found that this lawyer made patently false allegations about WWE, and this is more of the same. We’re confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate as his prior attempts and be dismissed.”
Bloomberg had the following about the story on their site:
The retired wrestlers say the WWE deliberately ignored and hid from them “medically important and possibly lifesaving information” about specific neurological conditions, such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, that affect wrestlers and athletes who play contact sports prone to head trauma.
“The WWE knows that its wrestlers including the plaintiffs are at great risk for these diseases such as CTE that can result in suicide, drug abuse and violent behavior that pose a danger to not only the athletes themselves but their families and community, yet the WWE does nothing to warn, educate or provide treatment to them,” the wrestlers said in the suit.
“These wrestlers don’t have medical benefits. They’re independent contractors,” said Daniel Wallach, a sports law expert with Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “They completely fall through the safety net. They’re in worse shape than retired professional football players or retired hockey players. They’re the most disposable athletes in the sports and entertainment business.”
Monday’s complaint was filed with the federal court in New Haven, Connecticut.
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