Former Argo Arland Bruce Continues His Concussion Lawsuit

[jerrym]

Arland Bruce, a receiver with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, B.C. Lions and Montreal Alouettes between 2001 and 2013, is seeking to overturn a Superior Court of British Columbia ruling last March that his claim for damages for head injuries he said he received during his playing career should be adjudicated through a grievance procedure because the CFL Players’ Association was the exclusive bargaining agent for CFL players.
A hearing of the British Columbia Court of Appeal is set for March 3. A lawyer for Bruce must try to convince a panel of judges to reject the previous ruling with an argument that the CFLPA is not actually the players’ exclusive bargaining agent, that Canadian common law allows individual unionized employees to pursue court action in certain cases and that professional sports operate under different parameters than standard collective bargaining agreements.
A joint submission comprising legal precedents cited by both sides were filed on Thursday, adding to written arguments that had been submitted before the end of August.
At its most basic level, this dispute is about money.
Lawyers for the CFL and its teams, former commissioner Mark Cohon, the CFL Alumni Association and its president, Leo Ezerins, brain-injury specialist Dr. Charles Tator and the Krembil Neuroscience Centre of Toronto say arbitration can provide an effective remedy for players. However, the appeal-court submission by Bruce’s lawyer claims no arbitration decision ever awarded adequate compensation for serious brain injury. ...

Bruce filed his lawsuit in July 2014, several months after the Alouettes released him. He claimed not only that the defendants knew or should have known about the long-term risk of brain injury from concussive and sub-concussive blows, but also that Bruce was allowed to return to play in games despite continuing concussion symptoms.
Those claims have not been proven in court.
One of the key legal precedents is a 1995 Supreme Court of Canada decision involving Ontario Hydro and a worker on long-term disability. Wishart contends that the Weber ruling, as it is known, leaves the door open for exemptions to the general rule that unionized employees must pursue claims through arbitration.

“We are trying to say to the court, if there was every a reason to make an exemption, now is the time because they wouldn’t have … They wouldn’t have (provincial workers’ compensation coverage), they don’t have occupational health and safety, they don’t have the power of a union behind them and they’re job requires them to be hurt,” she said. “Their very job duty means they’re going to be injured, so how do we protect a vulnerable group of people?
“And we say through a lawsuit.”

http://theprovince.com/sports/footba...elated-lawsuit

[jerrym]

Arland Bruce was in court on Friday continuing his concussion lawsuit against Mark Cohon and the CFL, although he has dropped the CFL Alumni Association, its president and the medical centre involved from the lawsuit. A decision is expected in two to six months.

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.

http://vancouversun.com/sports/footb...t-let-son-play

[jerrym]

The BC Court of Appeal has ruled against Bruce.

Former CFL receiver Arland Bruce has lost the latest round of his concussion-related lawsuit.
In a ruling released Friday, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that the issues raised in Bruce’s lawsuit are part of a collective bargaining agreement between the league and the CFL Players’ Association.
The judge dismissed the case in March, 2016, saying those issues must be resolved through the grievance and arbitration process, not the courts.
The defendants included the league, former commissioner Mark Cohon, neuroscientist Dr. Charles Tator, the Canadian Football League Alumni Association and every team in the league.
The CFL issued the following statement Friday afternoon:

The CFL is very pleased with the Court of Appeal’s decision. We hope that this decision brings finality to any proceedings in the courts with respect to concussion litigation against the CFL. We will have no further comment at this time.

Bruce played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, B.C. Lions and Montreal Alouettes over the course of his 14 year career.
He was part of Grey Cup winning teams in Toronto in 2004 and with the B.C. Lions in 2011.
The former wide receiver first filed his lawsuit in July 2014, claiming the defendants downplayed the effects of repetitive head trauma and misrepresented player safety issues about concussions.
His lawsuit claimed Bruce was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion while playing for the Lions in September 2012 and he reported fogginess, headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, memory loss, confusion, dizziness, anxiety and personality changes.
Court documents alleged he was permitted to return to play in November of that year and then again for the Alouettes in the 2013 season despite still suffering from the effects of concussion.
The lawsuit stated that the CFL should have intervened and prevented Bruce from returning to the field. Bruce alleged that he has suffered permanent disability, and his head injury will continue to cause earnings loss along as well as the loss of enjoyment of life.
The CFL is also facing a $200-million class action lawsuit filed in Ontario Superior Court last May by former players Korey Banks and the league Eric (The Flea) Allen.

http://3downnation.com/2017/05/12/ar...n-lawsuit-cfl/

[jerrym]

However, Bruce's lawyer plans to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Arland Bruce III’s lawyer is prepared to take the former CFL player’s concussion lawsuit to the Supreme Court of Canada despite a second legal setback.
The B.C. Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed Bruce’s lawsuit on Friday, upholding a B.C. Supreme Court decision in March that issues raised in the suit are part of a collective bargaining agreement between the CFL and CFL Players’ Association and should be resolved through the grievance and arbitration process, not the courts.
Robyn Wishart, Bruce’s lawyer, wasn’t surprised by Friday’s verdict, but she said her client’s legal fight isn’t over.
“We’ve been waiting for our chance to take this to the Supreme Court of Canada,” Wishart said in a telephone interview. “That’s been where we knew it had to go from Day 1 for us to be successful.
“Would we have liked to see something different? Sure, but if you understand the way that the law works, this is the path we knew we were on all along.”
Up next for Wishart is to apply for a leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. If it’s accepted, Wishart will then have the chance to present Bruce’s case to the country’s highest court.

http://3downnation.com/2017/05/13/br...supreme-court/

[jerrym]

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear Arland Bruce's concussion case.

The Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday it won't hear Bruce's concussion lawsuit against the CFL and former commissioner Mark Cohon. The decision came after two B.C. courts — the Supreme Court of British Columbia and British Columbia Court of Appeal — dismissed the suit, saying the Supreme Court previously ruled unionized employees must use labour arbitration and not the courts to resolve disputes that arise from their collective agreement.
Lawyers for the former Tiger-Cat argued the CFL's collective agreement is unusual because athletes individually negotiate their pay, have no long-term disability insurance plan, are excluded from occupational health and safety regulations and aren't entitled to workers' compensation.

https://www.thespec.com/sports-story...n-case-tossed/