The pay-outs per athlete could easily reach six figure sums or more
Ipek Tugcu, senior associate in the Brain Injury Team at Bolt Burdon Kemp says:
To win, the players must prove they suffered brain injuries because the defendants (World Rugby, RFU and WRU) failed to take reasonable steps to protect them from the known risk of brain injury. What is ‘reasonable’ will be determined by the information known, or ought to have been known, at the time of the events.
This is not easy, and will require consideration of volumes of documents to identify what information was available on the risks at the time and evidence from independent medical experts regarding the link between the players’ brain injuries
and any failings. It wouldn’t be unusu-al l for this to take years. A legal action of this magnitude is bound to have significant implic-ations for all athletes suffering from brain injuries. If successful, it will set a precedent for others to come forward relying on the similar grounds.
The impact on rugby’s governing bodies would be astronomical – the financial pay-outs per athlete could easily reach six-figure sums or more, as they will need to cover all injuries and financial losses suffered due to the injury. I would expect very swift and robust changes to be made to the game to fill in any gaps which could leave the governing bodies open to more legal action.