Mom suing pop warner football for sons death

Its unfortunate situation, but give me a break if you don't want them to play don't let them. We all know risks associated with football if you can't handle them then don't let em play.

 

Nope, too many possible issues and choices (like self-medication) that could have caused and amplified the dementia and depression.

 

What a sweet mother trying to profit off of her son's suicide.

 

This isn't a bad thing. If she has no leg to stand on, fine. But turning over some stones here won't hurt anything.

More lawsuits like this are probably coming and the general public's view of pre-teen football may shift. The legacy of this lawsuit could be big.

Honestly I doubt it, but you never know.

 

Hmm, not sure on this case, but I do know in new research there have been proven cases in autopsy results showing CTE in people in their 20's which was caused by repeated blows/concussions and not by "self-medication". So... I think this is just the start of cases like these (especially since her son was 25).

Football is obviously dangerous but unfortunately most people don't realize how easy it is to have permanent damage to the brain, most parents are probably just looking at bone/ligament injuries and not the most important thing (their kid's long-term brain health). I think a lot of it is because before people looked the other way with regards to CTE in the past, and now that there have been advancements in brain studies there's probably going to be even more changes to football (either by rules or better equipment that some how lowers the impact so the brain doesn't slosh around as much).

 

Is she going to sue herself for allowing her son to play tackle football?

 

If she had known about the life long risks she probably would not have, hence the reasoning behind her suit.

 

That's addressed in the article. Mom isn't trying to prove that football was the only cause.

 

Oh please... So you're saying she allowed her son to get into something she didn't research? As if lifelong risks of football have not been a huge topic for many years now?

Should boxing and MMA leagues be liable as well? What about skateboard parks? They all have potential life threatening/altering risks.

 

Wait...Her son stopped playing Pop Warner in the year 2000, hung himself in 2012, and the mom is seeking 5 million dollars from Pop Warner? Is this lady serious??

 

He played pop warner in the late 1990's. Real research on CTE didn't occur until about 10 years later. I think that will be the league's strongest defense - no one really understood the risks back then.

 

Why is that odd? It's not like you develop CTE immediately. Look at all the former NFL players that commit suicide years or decades after leaving football. No one thinks there's anything odd about connecting their CTE to their time playing football years earlier. NFL players won billions from the NFL on this issue, no?

 

Maybe she should also sue the girls who broke his heart or the bosses who were too hard on him. Obvooously those contributed to his depression as well

 

Yeah I thought about that. But there's a big difference between playing 3 years of youth league football, and playing for your entire life including high school/college/professional. It just doesn't sound like a very strong argument to be able to tie 3 years of youth football to the guy committing suicide 12 years later. If that's the case, then pretty much anyone that commits suicide or shows poor judgement later in life can have the families come back and blame it on the fact that they played football when they were a kid.

Maybe the two things are related, I really don't know. It just sounds like a stretch and more of the mother looking for someone/something to blame. Maybe I'm just missing it and need to go read the article again, but it sounds like a very flimsy argument to me.

 

She says that the son suffered concussions during his time playing Pop Warner. I have no idea if they have actual evidence of this, but if they do, and the coaches sent him right back onto the field or whatnot, then there could be an argument there.

It might be - and they sort of admit that in the article. It seems this is as much or more to simply spur change as it is to actually win the case:


Pyka's lawyer, Gordon Johnson, said they are not seeking to prove that Pop Warner was the only source of the blows that caused Chernach's dementia. Rather, they are seeking a broader interpretation of "strict liability" laws to hold Pop Warner responsible. "We have to prove that Pop Warner was a substantial factor in him getting it, and we knew from research that playing under 12 is when you're most vulnerable," Johnson said.

Even if they don't win the case, "the airing of these issues will benefit everybody," he added.

I think the latter part - that we knew about the research - is where they will struggle. The big study that shows the dangers of playing as a kid just came out very recently:

The suit followed an announcement by Boston University researchers that former NFL players who played tackle football before 12 showed greater declines in memory and cognitive function when compared to peers who entered the game in their teens.

 

I think there might be a superceding, intervening cause of his death, in that he hung himself.

 

You use the word hanged when talking about someone's death. Not trying to be one of those people but I like to be corrected on things like this.