Retired Players Sue NFL & Helmet Makers

VAN NUYS, Calif. (CN) – Tony Dorsett and Calvin Williams are among 47 retired NFL players who say their football helmets did not protect them from head injuries. The players and their wives seek punitive damages.      The players and their wives seek damages from the NFL and the helmet companies for negligence, monopoly, fraud, defective design, failure to warn and loss of consortium.     This is the latest in a string of lawsuits springing from the NFL’s decades-long, and now widely discredited, attempts to brush off concerns about long-term traumatic brain injury from repeated concussions.     The retired players are represented in Superior Court by Thomas Girardi with Girardi Keese.     Here are the defendants: All American Sports Corporation; Easton-Bell Sports Inc.; Easton-Bell Sports LLC; EB Sports Corp.; National Football League; NFL Properties LLC; RBG Holdings Corp; Riddell Inc.; Riddell Sports Group Inc.; Riddell Sports Group Inc.; and Riddell/All American.