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A lawyer for more than 50 former professional wrestlers suing WWE for brain damage took the case to the United States Supreme Court.
Lawyer Konstantine Kyros filed the claim on Wednesday after lower courts dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous or exceeding the statute of limitations, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.
The complainants listed include star wrestlers from the ’80s and’ 90s including Joseph “Animal” Laurinaitis of the Road Warriors, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Paul “Mr. Magnificent ”Orndorff, Chris“ King Kong Bundy ”Pallies and Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara, known in the ring as Mr. Fuji.
Several complainants were diagnosed with brain damage after death
Snuka passed away in 2017 and Fujiwara passed away in 2016. Both were diagnosed after their deaths with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the disorder commonly associated with repeated head injuries in football.
Pallies died in 2019 and Laurinaitis died last year of undisclosed causes.
Other plaintiffs complained of dementia and other illnesses, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses WWE of knowing about the health risks of wrestling without warning participants, and argues that WWE is more responsible for injuries than sports like soccer because the organization scripts matches that result in brain damage. The NFL settled a concussion lawsuit with former players in 2016 for more than $ 1 billion.
Federal Judge Vanessa Bryant ruled in 2018 that there was no evidence WWE knew at the time that collisions in the wrestling ring would result in CTE.
A WWE spokesperson told AP on Thursday that the lawsuit was without merit. It is not yet clear whether the Supreme Court will consider the case or not.
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