WWE Fights Back In Head Injuries Case, Accusing Plaintiffs ... - Hartford Courant

Slammed with a lawsuit by and on behalf of the Road Warrior Animal, Adam Bomb, the Barbarian and 57 other present, former and deceased wrestlers, what would you expect from WWE?

A counter-attack, of course – including an accusation that lawyers for the plaintiffs plagiarized vast tracts of a lawsuit against the National Football League in their case against World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

After six lawsuits in three years, the latest a consolidated action with five dozen plaintiffs, the Stamford-based TV and video theatrics company isn't just denying charges it flouted workplace laws as a brutal employer foisting brain injuries that led to deaths and disabilities. It's also seeking sanctions against the plaintiffs' lead attorney.

The action in U.S. District Court in Hartford is growing nastier, with a filing by WWE in response to a Nov. 10 expansion of a lawsuit filed in July.

"The Amended Complaint...continues to be plagued by the same false allegations and defective legal claims that permeated the original Complaint. It brazenly defies this Court's admonitions by repeating allegations that the Court has already found to be false and misleading in prior rulings," WWE said in the filing, made hours before the Christmas weekend.

The plaintiffs say WWE knowingly failed to warn wrestlers of the dangers of their trade, forced them to perform dangerous acts in harsh conditions under improper contracts and concealed information about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head blows.

So far, the rulings and decisions have generally favored WWE – starting with a lengthy process that brought the entire fight to Hartford, from several federal court jurisdictions around the country as WWE accused the plaintiffs' lead attorney, Konstantine Kyros, of "venue shopping" to find a sympathetic judge elsewhere.

The case is heating up as Linda McMahon, WWE co-founder and former CEO, and former two-time candidate for U.S. Senate from Connecticut, prepares for her nomination as head of the U.S. Small Business Administration under President-elect Donald Trump. Kyros says the charges reflect on McMahon's suitability for the job.

Two of Kyros's class action lawsuits against WWE were dismissed earlier this year. Then in November, Bryant dismissed wrongful death claims on behalf of Nelson Lee "Viscera" Frazier and Matt "Doink the Clown" Osborne, saying, in part, that the plaintiffs didn't prove those wrestlers had CTE, nor that their performances for WWE led to their deaths.

Kyros and his team filed their amended complaint the next day, including charges that WWE diva Ashley Massaro was sexually assaulted in a military base while touring with WWE in Kuwait. Kyros says that's part of a pattern of workplace negligence. The WWE lead attorney said it's not only baseless but a smokescreen designed to divert attention from the main fight.

Bryant had harsh words for Kyros in her November decision, citing "unnecessary verbiage, irrelevant allegations, conclusory statements and inflammatory language" in the lawsuit.

"Kyros' half-truths undermine his credibility and the credibility of the filings," Bryant wrote. "These misleading, deceptive, and baseless allegations are precisely the types of statements that many state bar associations have targeted in promulgating rules of professional conduct."

Kyros called the admonishment "unfortunate" and told me he felt justified in making the charges he made, including an argument that Osborne had CTE even though it was not proven. "I don't think it was unprofessional," he said.

Despite her criticism, Bryant denied WWE's motion seeking sanctions against Kyros. Now WWE is asking again, citing what it calls plagiarism of the NFL case in the WWE lawsuit.

The NFL case, also over head injuries, could be crucial in the WWE case because it led to a settlement and compensation system that could total $1 billion or more.

Kyros lifted "massive" sections of the NFL lawsuit to make it seem tied directly to this case, said Jerry S. McDevitt, lead attorney for WWE. "It was an utter fabrication," he said in an interview. "He took science that had been applied to NFL players and turned it around to WWE performers."

Kyros defended the lifting, saying it's common for lawsuits to use language from prior cases. As for statements wrongly attributed to WWE employees, Kyros said those were "typos" that should not distort the main point.

As with any brawl, it's easy to lose track of the central issue. Kyros and the plaintiffs are saying WWE "markets and glorifies wrestling's violence" in a way that leads to preventable head injuries for the performers.

"The WWE knows that its wrestlers including the Plaintiffs are at great risk for these diseases such as CTE that can result in suicide, drug abuse and violent behavior...yet the WWE does nothing to warn, educate or provide treatment to them," the lawsuit charges.

For example, the lawsuit says, WWE only halted the dangerous practice of "chair shots" in 2010.

One central claim is that the performers are improperly classified as independent contractors, rather than regular employees, which reduces WWE's legal responsibility.

McDevitt said the classification is done under contracts signed by the performers. "The law couldn't be clearer," he said.

"It's entertainment. Most of what you're seeing is not really hitting on the head, there's a lot of simulation," McDevitt said. "All of these guys are big boys, they signed big-boy contracts, they know what they were doing."

When inevitable injuries happen, McDevitt added, "you don't turn around and sue somebody and clog the courts over cases with injuries when you knew the risk."

McMahon isn't a named defendant (her husband and co-founder, Vince, is named) but she will have to answer tough questions at her confirmation hearing. "The working conditions for WWE wrestlers under the McMahon family's control...have left the wrestlers and their families without health care or any of the protections afforded workers under our laws," Kyros said in an email.

SUMBER

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