Source: TMZ
TMZ followed up on the latest lawsuit filed against WWE by speaking to the company’s long-time outside counsel, Jerry mcDevitt of Pittsburgh law firm K&L Gates. As noted earlier, Matt “Luther Reigns” Wiese, Ryan “Keiji” Sakoda, and “Big” Russ McCullough filed a new class action “concussion lawsuit” against the company today. While the bulk of the complaint is identical to other lawsuits spearheaded by Konstantine Kyros, a lawyer based out of Hingham, Massachusetts, the new suit was filed by Michael A. McShane and Jonas P. Mann of Audet & Partners in San Francisco.
McDevitt told TMZ that WWE is “being targeted by attorneys who tell them there’s hundreds of thousands of dollars they can make by joining a class action suit like this,” adding that “”We know these claims are fraudulent, and will fight them.” As for the specifics of the claim, he notes that “It’s sensational, but if you really look at…what was done specifically to them? There are almost no details as to what they actually suffered as a result of working with WWE.” He also told TMZ that no wrestlers contacted WWE about having neurological issues before filing lawsuits.
When it comes to the complaint, he’s not wrong. While the complaints so far generally have one or two more specific allegations per plaintiff, they’re largely vague on detailed allegations, with the bulk being the boilerplate text repeated across the various different complaints. None of it is close to the level of what forced the NFL to settle their major concussion class action suit, which was proof that they concealed research into the danger of repeated head trauma from players.
