In 2011, two actions were filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regarding the handling of concussions and risks related to concussions involving student-athletes. The cases were consolidated. After multiple other actions were filed, on Dec. 18, 2013, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred the actions to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for coordinated and consolidated pretrial proceedings before District Judge John Z. Lee.

After the parties reached a proposed settlement of the matter, the court denied a motion for preliminary approval on Dec. 17, 2014, directing the parties to address certain concerns. In a fourth amended class action complaint filed on April 20, 2015, current and former collegiate student-athletes alleged claims against NCAA for breach of express contract, breach of implied contract, fraudulent concealment, negligence, and medical monitoring. The complaint was brought by Adrian Arrington, Derek Owens, Angelica Palacios, Kyle Solomon, Shelby Williams, Brice Sheeder, Shavaughne Desecki, Spencer Trautmann, Ryan Parks, Ursula Kunhardt, Jessica Miller, Rachel Harada, Adam Walker, Anna Bartz, Natalie Harada, DaChe Williams, and Peter Dykstra, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated.

The court preliminary approved an amended proposed settlement and conditionally certified the settlement class on Jan. 26, 2016, indicating that it had certain concerns about the amended proposed settlement. In a second amended class action settlement agreement and release dated May 20, 2016, the parties agreed to settle the medical monitoring claims as alleged in the consolidated cases. That same day, the parties filed a renewed joint motion for preliminary approval of class settlement and certification of settlement class and settlement subclasses. At a July 14, 2016 status hearing, Judge Lee granted the joint motion.
The settlement provided for, among other things, the NCAA to pay or cause to be paid $ 70,000,000 for a medical monitoring fund to pay the costs of a medical monitoring program, notice and administrative costs, the costs of a medical science committee, class counsel's attorneys' fees and expenses, and class representatives' service awards as well as to pay $ 5,000,000 to research regarding concussions. The agreement also provided for the implementation of certain return-to-play guidelines. The NCAA agreed not to oppose service awards of $ 5,000 for certain class representatives and of $ 2,500 for other class representatives and $ 15,000,000 in attorneys' fees and $ 750,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. The court conditionally certified a settlement class of persons who played an NCAA-sanctioned sport at a member institution on or before the date of preliminary approval and certified a subclass of persons who played a contact sport and a subclass of persons who played a non-contact sport.

Lexis Advance subscribers can view the full summary here: In Re: National Collegiate Athletic Association Student-Athlete Concussion Injury Litigation; 2016 Jury Verdicts LEXIS 4879

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