CFL wins first round in concussion battle

OTTAWA• The Canadian Football League, former commissioner Mark Cohon and other defendants have won a jurisdictional decision in their legal battle with retired CFL receiver Arland Bruce, who is claiming damages related to concussions he received during his 14-year career.

Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson of the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued a decision Friday saying that the claim by Bruce, a member of the CFL Players’ Association, should be adjudicated by an arbitrator through the grievance procedure set out in the collective agreement between the CFLPA and the league.

However, the lawyer representing Bruce in his bid to have the claim heard in court, arguing that Canadian common law allows an individual legal action through the courts and that professional sports operate under different parameters than the standard collective bargaining agreement, said an appeal of Hinkson’s decision would be filed with the B.C. Court of Appeal within 30 days.

“We knew this wasn’t going to stay at the Supreme Court level,” Robyn Wishart said. “It was always something that was going to end up at the Court of Appeal whether the players won or lost

“But I’m not at all dampened by the reasons ( in the decision). I feel we can take this further legitimately.”

Bruce, who played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, B.C. Lions and Montreal Alouettes between 2001 and 2014, filed his lawsuit in July 2014.

It claimed that Cohon, CFL teams, the CFL Alumni Association and its president, Leo Ezerins, brain- injury specialist Dr. Charles Tator and the Krembil Neuroscience Centre of Toronto knew or should have known about the long- term risk of brain injury resulting from concussive and sub- concussive blows and that Bruce was allowed to return to play in games despite continuing concussion symptoms.

Those claims have not been proven in court.

Another concussion- related lawsuit has been filed as a class action in Ontario against the same group of defendants except for Ezerins and the alumni association. Publicly identified plaintiffs seeking $ 200 million in damages for all retired players who have participated in CFL games and practices since 1952 include former running backs Dennis Duncan and Eric Allen, who have both died, defensive backs Korey Banks and Rod Woodward, linebacker Alondra Johnson, linebacker/ running back Gary Schreider and offensive lineman Mike Webster, or their families.

As in the Bruce case, its claims have not been proven in court.

Following a ruling by the court of appeal in British Columbia, either side could then seek leave to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.