NHL may have to pay much more than just attorney fees before CTE battle ends
On Monday, a federal judge ordered the NHL to pay for 80 percent of the legal fees endured by researchers at Boston University in a fight over documents pertinent to the study of a link between hockey and CTE. That may be just the start of the league’s payout on the matter, however.
The NHL has been trying to dispute that a link between playing hockey and developing neurological disease exists for months, even to the point of interfering in on-going research on the subject at Boston University. With a court order on Monday, litigation on the subject has begun to cost the NHL. This may only be the beginning.
According to Zach Zagger of Law360.com, the court granted the request of the BU researchers to compel the NHL to pay its attorney fees, although the court did reduce the amount from $117,000 to $96,300. This essentially concludes the legal battle in which the NHL attempted to use the force of law to obtain all the data from the study.
The fact that most of the NHL’s claims on the information from the study were denied by the court, partially due to the NHL’s deception of the court, was a win for not only the researchers, but society as well. The fact that the NHL now has to pay for most of the unnecessary lawsuit it brought against those conducting the study is further justice being served.
The $96,300 may pale in comparison to the legal and settlement costs which could be coming in the future for the NHL, however.
The reason the NHL interfered in the study was to try to gain an upper hand in another lawsuit which Boston U’s research team has no part in, though their findings probably will play a role. Former players have brought a class-action suit against the NHL alleging that the league hid the risks of neurological disease from them.
It’s likely that the findings of the BU study will be used in that lawsuit, by either the league or the plaintiffs. The NHL sought unfettered access to the data acquired in the course of the study to augment its defense in the event that the study shows a significant correlation between playing hockey and the development of CTE.
That would have given the NHL’s medical “experts” opportunity and time to poke holes in the findings before the players who brought the suit had the same access to the study. Given what has already been revealed about the study, it’s likely that the findings won’t be in the NHL’s favor. The NHL’s desire to get a head start wasn’t without real motivation.
If legal proceedings on this matter continue to go south for the NHL, expect the league to try to reach a settlement with the plaintiffs. There is no benefit for the NHL in this matter actually proceeding to trial, where the potential dirty laundry of the league covering up what it knew about the dangers of working in its league aired for all to see.
Next: 20 stadiums that need to host Stadium Classic
That settlement could reach nine or more figures, making what the NHL was ordered to pay on Monday pale in comparison. This was a loss for the NHL, but the league’s real day of reckoning may be yet to come.