Many people do not realize that football players, and other athletes in various contact sports are not the only people to sustain head/brain injuries. In fact, may assistant coaches and front office staff, who have played on the field in the past, are now filing worker’s compensation claims.
For example, in California, 43 current assistant coaches and front office workers, along with more than six T.V. game analysts have also filed claims. Virtually 90 percent of the claims are alleging serious brain trauma. This is a setback for the NFL, but not one that should be unexpected. It most definitely starkly points out how deep the issue of traumatic brain injury (TBI) runs in all major sports leagues.
To date, officials from 23 various teams have filed brain injury claims and those officials include a running backs coach, a wide receivers coach, an assistant head coach and a director of pro personnel, as well as NFL Network on-air personalities suffering the same type of serious injuries. The brush stroke of traumatic brain injury has painted far and wide. The true, life-altering impact of TBI is coming home in spades and taking no prisoners.
Most of the claims are filed against a player’s former team and not their current team. This scenario has not yet been fully rolled out into play, but by the looks of things it has the potential to grow even bigger. Traumatic brain injury sustained due to the negligence of another person, or organization, is cause for filing a personal injury lawsuit to obtain compensation.
About The Author
Kenneth "Tray" Gober III, J.D., is the Managing Partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna, PLLC in Austin, Texas. A 2005 magna cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University and an honors graduate of Baylor Law School, Tray is admitted to the State Bars of Texas (Bar No. 300408), Colorado, and Pennsylvania, and to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. He represents personal injury clients across Texas in car accidents, truck accidents, autonomous vehicle claims, wrongful death, drunk driving collisions, premises liability, and product liability matters. He is one of Texas's most frequently quoted legal voices on the law surrounding autonomous vehicles and AI-driven transportation. Tray also serves as an adjunct professor of Paralegal Studies at the University of Texas School of Law.