Riggs v. NCAA: Indiana Court Rejects Duty of Care Claims in Former Football Player’s CTE Case, Published in Sports Litigation Alert

In an article published on August 7 in Sports Litigation Alert, Segal McCambridge Senior Associate William Gray examines an Indiana Court of Appeals decision addressing the scope of the NCAA’s legal responsibilities to student-athletes. In Riggs v. NCAA, the court held that the NCAA did not owe a common-law duty of care to a former Texas A&M University football player who allegedly developed Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy after experiencing repetitive head trauma.

“The court reaffirmed that responsibility for protecting student-athletes rests primarily with NCAA member institutions, not the NCAA itself, even where the NCAA promulgates health and safety guidance to support its founding mission: to make college football safe,” Gray writes.

Although the court found that the risk of long-term neurological injury was foreseeable, it concluded that the player’s lack of a direct relationship with or demonstrated reliance on the NCAA weighed against recognizing a duty. The court also determined that imposing liability based on the NCAA’s efforts to reduce existing risks could discourage organizations from developing voluntary health and safety initiatives.

“Although the decision is favorable to the NCAA, it should not be read as limiting the legal obligations of colleges and universities themselves,” Gray explains. “The court repeatedly emphasized that responsibility for implementing and enforcing health and safety protocols rests primarily with NCAA member institutions.”

Read the article in full, click here.