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HARTFORD, Connecticut – Several former professional wrestlers who have claimed in lawsuits that World Wrestling Entertainment had failed to protect them from repeated head injuries are taking their cases to the United States Supreme Court.
An attorney for former wrestlers, mostly stars of the 1980s and 1990s, filed a motion Wednesday night asking the Supreme Court to hear appeals from lower court decisions that dismissed the lawsuits. Lower courts have said the lawsuits are frivolous or filed after the statute of limitations expires.
Among the plaintiffs were Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Joseph “Road Warrior Animal” Laurinaitis, Paul “Mr. Wonderful “Orndorff, Chris” King Kong Bundy “Pallies and Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara, known as Mr. Fuji.
The wrestlers said they suffered repeated head injuries, including concussions that resulted in long-term brain damage, and accused WWE of knowing the risks of head injuries but of failing to warn its wrestlers.
WWE, based in Stamford, Connecticut, continues to deny the allegations and says the lawsuits are without merit, a spokesperson said Thursday.
Snuka and Fujiwara died in 2017 and 2016, respectively, and both were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, after their deaths, according to their attorney. Pallies and Laurinaitis died in 2019 and 2020, respectively, from undisclosed causes. Other plaintiffs suffer from dementia and other illnesses, according to the lawsuit.
More than 50 former wrestlers have sued WWE. In September, the Second US Court of Appeals in New York City dismissed the case. The court upheld the 2018 rulings of Federal Judge Vanessa Bryant in Connecticut, who said there was no evidence WWE knew concussions or head shots during wrestling matches caused the CTE.
Former wrestlers’ attorney Konstantine Kyros, who is based in Hingham, Mass., Criticized the decisions and said the former wrestlers had been “deprived of their basic rights as U.S. citizens, including their right to do so. call”.
Kyros said the 2nd Circuit court dismissed earlier appeals because final decisions had not been made in all lawsuits. After Bryant made those final rulings in 2018, Kyros appealed again. But he said Circuit 2 also dismissed those appeals, saying they were filed too late under a new legal precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his 2018 ruling, Bryant also criticized Kyros for repeatedly failing to comply with court rules and orders and ordered him to pay WWE’s legal fees – more than $ 500,000.
Unlike football and hockey, in which players have suffered similar injuries, WWE matches involve movements scripted and choreographed by WWE, thus making the company directly responsible for wrestler injuries, according to the lawsuits.
The National Football League and the National Hockey League have also been sued by former players who suffered concussions and other head injuries. The NFL settled for $ 1 billion and the NHL for $ 18.9 million.
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