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B.C. head coach Jeff Tedford named in concussion lawsuit from his time at Cal
Another concussion lawsuit involving a CFL figure has popped up, but this one's not about concussions sustained in the league. The figure in question is B.C. Lions' head coach Jeff Tedford, who previously was the head coach of the NCAA's California Golden Bears (representing the University of California, Berkeley) from 2002-2012. As Avinash Kunnath of California Golden Blogs writes, former Cal safety Bernard Hicks is suing the school over concussion malpractice, and Tedford is named as a defendant. Here are more details, from Ariel Hayat of the independent student newspaper The Daily Californian:
Bernard Hicks played for the Golden Bears from 2004 to 2008 and suffered from multiple concussions during games and practices, according to the lawsuit filed Aug. 3 against the Regents of the University of California. The suit claims that the university failed to take reasonable measures to prevent head injuries.
According to Hicks’ attorney, Matthew Whibley, the university did not inform players of the long-term neurological diseases associated with concussions and subconcussive injuries to the head.
“The university is the players’ caretaker,” he said. “We think it would be fair for them to at least inform the players what they’re getting themselves into.”
Although Cal Athletics could not directly comment on Hicks’ case, it released a statement saying that it bases its care on the “best and most up-to-date clinical guidelines” and that “the medical care we provide our student-athletes meets or exceeds the standards in collegiate and national sports medicine.”
Since leaving the football team, Hicks has sustained “permanent and debilitating” neurological injuries that have caused depression, suicidal shots [thoughts?], dizziness, memory loss, and blurred and double vision, according to the lawsuit.
...Defendants in the case include Hicks’ then-head coach Jeff Tedford, team physician Cindy Chang and head athletic trainer Ryan Cobb. The complaint says that had Hicks been informed of the numerous neurological diseases associated with his injuries, he would have refrained from playing or rested longer.
Whibley said that although the dangers of concussions are starting to become public knowledge, players are “less likely to believe those third-party statements than if they heard it from their own team doctors and coaches.”
These lawsuits tend to move at a slow pace (former CFL player Arland Bruce's July 2014 lawsuit against the league over concussions is still only at the point of arguments about if the court has jurisdiction, and the other lawsuit filed against the CFL by former players Korey Banks and Eric "The Flea" Allen in June 2015 hasn't produced any news since then), so don't expect to see any resolution quickly, but it's interesting to see another lawsuit impacting a CFL figure, even if this one isn't about anything that's happened in the CFL.
As per the status of concussions in the CFL, the league is making some progress on concussion prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The recent agreement with the NFL to share concussion data and try out new tests such as the King-Devick sideline test is promising, and four of the CFL's teams are testing that out. The league's current policies have some merits, even if they didn't enact the reasonable safety proposals the players brought forward in the last CBA discussions (such as independent neurologists), and there haven't been a lot of concerns raised recently about how the CFL is handling concussions. That's been the story in the NCAA and NFL too; teams are getting better.
However, those improvements also show where things were perhaps lacking before, and that's what's led to some of these lawsuits. Hicks' lawsuit itself can only impact Tedford, not the CFL, but it's more proof that there are plenty of former football players out there dealing with the impacts of concussions, and some of them are willing to sue. Expect that to be the case in the CFL as well; three players have officially filed lawsuits so far, but it seems highly likely more may follow suit, especially if the judge in the Bruce case rules that his claim can be heard in court.
Related: New concussion protocol put into place by Calgary Stampeders:
