Dismissed WWE Concussion Lawsuit Heads To Appeal
The suit had been dismissed in Connecticut in 2018
Feb 19, 2021
Five plaintiffs, and lawyer Konstantine Kyros, will appeal a lawsuit against WWE to the United States Supreme Court after it was dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit six months.
Former wrestlers Russ McCullough, Ryan Sakoda, Billy Jack Haynes, Matthew Wiese and Viscera's widow Cassandra Frazier are the remaining plantiffs in the suit against the promotion. The suit was first filed in 2016 and initially comprised of 53 wrestlers and Kyros before a court in Connecticut dismissed it in 2018.
The suit claims the company failed to protect the plaintiffs after they developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and other health problems after suffering multiple head injuries and concussions while wrestling for WWE.
The US Court of Appeals had upheld the ruling that WWE couldn't have reasonably known of the long-term health implications, and that the case was frivolous and/or filed after the statute of limitations had expired.
WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt said in a statement: “[Konstantine Kyros] has no automatic right to appeal to the Supreme Court. He has to ask them to accept an appeal, and that is what he filed. The large majority of requests are denied, and the Supreme Court typically takes cases presenting some issue of national import where the courts in the various federal circuits differ on some specific issue of federal law.
"Here, Kyros is asking the Supreme Court to reverse the Second Circuit decision that he filed an appeal too late in the cases of Billy Jack Haynes, Russ McCullough, Matthew Wiese, Ryan Sakoda and Nelson Frazier.
"He is not attempting to have them hear the dismissals of all the other cases, which are now over for good. The lower courts threw those cases out on the basis of state law, which the Supreme Court would not touch.
"It is an exercise in futility, because even the Supreme Court were to hear his request and find that his appeal on behalf of those five was timely, he would still lose on the merits because their claims are all barred by statute of limitations. In short, a waste of time and money which we don’t think will go anywhere.
"He will, however, have to face a sanctions hearing next month on how much he has to pay WWE.”
