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The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments later this month in a case deciding whether the National Collegiate Athletic Association had a duty to warn individual student athletes about the risk of football-related head trauma that can contribute to death later.
The argument will be held at DePauw University on Oct. 28, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The scheduled panelists are Court of Appeals Judges Melissa May, Leanna Weissmann and Dana Kenworthy.
According to court documents, the appeal comes following the death of former college football player Christopher Riggs, who played at Texas A&M University from 1965 to 1968.
After college, Riggs experienced various symptoms of degenerative brain disease, and after he died in 2020, he was diagnosed with Stage III/IV chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE can lead to complications such as severe dementia, depression, and impulsive behavior, which can lower life expectancy.
Following his death, Riggs’ estate filed a wrongful death action against the NCAA, claiming the association has historically assumed a duty to protect the health and safety of all athletes at its member institutions, including Riggs, but that its negligence in failing to warn its athletes, like Riggs, about the dangers and risks associated with repetitive sub-concussive and concussive blows had led to the wrongful death of Riggs.
However, the trial court denied the estate’s argument, instead granting summary judgment in favor of the NCAA.
The estate now appeals, requesting that the appellate court reverse the lower court’s order and remand the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
“The Trial Court’s summary judgment order, which effectively holds the NCAA owed neither a traditional nor an assumed duty to NCAA football players as a matter of law, is at odds with decades of evidence, legal precedent, and the exhaustive findings and analysis of its sister court,” the estate argued.
The case is Riggs et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (25A-CT-571).
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