Ex-Bucs suing NFL over injuries

Tight end Jimmie Giles is among several former Tampa Bay Buccaneers players suing the NFL and two equipment makers, claiming they were negligent in dealing with head injuries.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, claims the defendants acted with "callous indifference" and "reckless abandon."

It alleges the league "knew as early as the 1920s of the potential harmful effects on a player's brain of concussions; however until June of 2010, they concealed these facts from coaches, trainers, players and the public.''

Helmet manufacturers Riddell and Easton are also defendants in the case, which follows two similar lawsuits filed within the past six weeks by different groups of former NFL players.

"We are aware of the suit,'' said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. "We will vigorously contest these claims and any similar allegations in court.''

Other former Bucs among several named plaintiffs in Friday's lawsuit are James Wilder,  Cedric Brown, Greg Roberts and Jesse Solomon.

"It takes a long time for these injuries to show up,'' said Brown, a Tampa Bay safety from 1976-84 who now works as a medical equipment representative in Oklahoma. "My wife tells me I can't remember this and I can't remember that. I get occasional headaches.''

Giles, the newest member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor, could not be reached for comment.

In July 2010, The Tampa Tribune published an investigative project called Broken Bucs, in which members of the 1979 Buccaneers were surveyed about the impact their NFL careers had on their health. In that report, Giles said he abruptly shut down his financial services company in 2007 after becoming disoriented on the job.

"All of the sudden, one day, man, I couldn't remember where in the heck I was," Giles said at the time, estimating he had about a dozen concussions during his NFL career. "I had to give that business up because it required a lot of thinking. I'm dealing with people … and their lives and fortunes."

Friday's lawsuit alleges all of the former Bucs designated as plaintiffs "suffered multiple concussions that were improperly diagnosed and improperly treated.''

That characterization doesn't sit well with Joseph Diaco, team physician for the Buccaneers from 1979-2008.

"All concussions were documented and treated in the correct fashion,'' Diaco said.

David A. Rosen, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, noted this is not a class-action suit because each individual suffered a different degree of injury.

"We think it's a very strong case,'' Rosen said Monday from his Los Angeles office. "We have a group of retired players with serious mental and emotional issues. The helmet manufacturers were negligent because they had a duty to do a better job in designing a better product. We believe the National Football League was also negligent in dealing with these issues. We have not filed a medical malpractice case, but we are seeking damages for these plaintiffs.''

The long-term impact of concussions in pro football has emerged as a contentious issue in recent years. In 2010, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell overhauled the league's committee on head, neck and spine injuries to deal more independently with the issue.

"We called 'em dings back in those days,'' Brown recalled. "You got your bell rung. You weren't evaluated (medically), you would just sniff some ammonia and get back at it. If you were able to run and tackle, you were back in there. There wasn't any consideration to the mental side.''