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On Sept. 24, 2011, he caught a pass from B.C. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay and took it 100 yards for a touchdown against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. ...
Coincidentally, he received a devastating concussion against the same team on the same field, Mosaic Stadium, almost a year to the day later — Sept. 27, 2012.More than four years on, he is going long in his legal battle with the CFL for the right to sue over injuries he received as a Lion and a Montreal Alouette, the team that released him in 2014.
Bruce and the Vancouver lawyer who represents him, Robyn Wishart, were in court Friday and must now await the decision of three judges from the B.C. Court of Appeal who heard arguments from Reidar Morgerman, making the case for Bruce, and Steve Shamie, representing the CFL.
Bruce lost the first round of his concussion lawsuit against the CFL last March, when Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that his grievance against the league should have gone through arbitration set out in the collective bargaining agreement.
Since July 16, 2014, when he launched the suit, Bruce has maintained he was uninformed not only about the long-term risk of brain injury from concussive and sub-concussive hits, but that he was allowed to return to play in games despite continuing concussion symptoms.
A 13-year CFL veteran who played college football at the University of Minnesota, Bruce lives in Surrey with his partner, Cherish, and his two kids, unable to work and getting by on Canada Pension Plan benefits and his wife’s salary. ...
“I’m not an A-plus guy like I used to be,” Bruce admitted. “But I’m improving. I am on medication. (But) I don’t have too much of a life right now. I’m a homebody.”
Asked if he fears for his future, Bruce said “I think I do have CTE. I still feel young and vibrant. The reality is, I’m not. I’m 39 now. Hopefully, I’ll be here a while longer.”
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive disease of the brain that can lead to memory loss, aggression, depression and dementia but currently can only be diagnosed after death through brain tissue analysis.
“If you have a strong supporting cast, you can get through something like that,” Bruce added.
Morgerman, a partner in a Vancouver law firm assisting Wishart, focuses on class actions and product liability cases “when big companies do bad things.” He believes it will take anywhere from two to six months before a decision is rendered in Bruce’s appeal. If he wins it, the player will have the right to sue the league for compensation in court.
Former commissioner Mark Cohon — that is, the CFL — is the remaining defendant. Bruce’s lawyers abandoned the appeal Friday against the CFL Alumni Association, its president, Leo Ezerins, brain-injury specialist Dr. Charles Tator and the Krembil Neuroscience Centre of Toronto, all previously named as co-defendants.
Court is the wrong jurisdiction for redress, the league maintains. But Shamie offered a concession Friday, saying that the CFL is prepared to waive the one-year limitation and allow Bruce’s case to be heard by an arbitrator.
“How is the arbitrator going to determine damages, especially from 2012?” Wishart argues. “In 2012, was arbitration the right forum? This is a very, very medically complicated issue.
“An arbitrator isn’t going to do what the players need to go forward. It’s not just a legal issue. This is a justice issue.”
Wishart also represents about 200 former CFL players in a separate class action suit, which will be impacted if Bruce wins his appeal.
