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The United States District Court in Portland, Oregon approved WWE's motion to have the lawsuit brought against them by former wrestler Billy Jack Haynes transferred to the States of Connecticut yesterday.
In the order set forth by Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart, Stewart noted the "court expresses no opinion on the merits of any portion of the WWE's Motion to Dismiss which is reserved for a ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut."
Haynes' 30 page lawsuit, filed in October 2014, was obviously designed to be similar to the one brought against the NFL by former players, claims that WWE "has, for decades, subjected its wrestlers to extreme physical brutality that it knew, or should have known, caused long-term irreversible bodily damage, including brain damage."
While explaining that professional wrestling is a performance, the lawsuit breaks down the potential for injury and even death, citing the fall that resulted in Owen Hart's passing in May 1999 and bringing up different concussions and injuries others, including Mick Foley and Candice Michelle, have publicly documented to have suffered over the years. It also cited a number of wrestling maneuvers used by WWE performers that can cause injury to those in the ring.
The lawsuit painted the picture of WWE as an organization that ignores injuries (citing Stephanie McMahon claiming on record to a Congressional investigation that WWE has never had one documented concussion) and that the company only launched their Wellness Policy after the death of a wrestler (true, Eddie Guerrero) and a Congressional investigation (incorrect, as the Wellness Policy was in place well before then-Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman looked into the wrestling industry).
It also claimed that WWE, through it's staging, utilizes stunts like "chair shots" to put professional wrestlers at risk for brain injuries, citing the 11 chair shots Mick Foley suffered against The Rock at the 1999 Royal Rumble and using statements made by Stephanie McMahon-Levesque during the Congressional investigation to support that claim.
The quote in question: "For example, if there are a number of guys in the ring, like say there is five guys attacking one guy, and I am a good guy going to come out, if I come out by myself, I am going to get beat down just as bad as the other guy. But if I come out with a chair, I might have a better chance. Logically, so that is how the chairs are used. You might have seen â€â€ or I don't know if you have seen any of our scripts â€â€ but there might be chair shots written in at some point."
The lawsuit also tried to connect the death of former WWE performer Lance Cade in 2010 to the fact that he was involved in an angle two years before where Shawn Michaels repeatedly beat him with a chair. The lawsuit also claims that WWE has profited off the violence of the chairshot with stories on their website and that despite banning chairs to the head, continues to use the imagery of chairs to the head while promoting the WWE Network.
The lawsuit also alleged that while chairshots are "banned", WWE still encourages talents to perform dangerous stunts that can result in injuries in Ladder matches, steel cage matches, Inferno matches, Table Matches and Hell in A Cell. Even the Punjabi Prison is cited.
Many of the items cited certainly would fit into how WWF/WWE in the past may have operated, but they are very much out of synch with WWE's current practices.
As noted, WWE filed a motion in April for the lawsuit to be dismissed. In the April filing, WWE noted that Haynes has brought his lawsuit 26 years after he last worked for the company and noted the suit is "time-barred and substantively deficient." WWE's motion noted that according to Oregon law, Haynes had a time limit to file a lawsuit and failed to do so and that they themselves informed his attorney of that - which led to a new, amended pleading being filed, now including a medical malpractice claim, which, according to WWE's response, would also be time-barred.
WWE's response also noted that while Haynes had made accusations that he suffered 15 concussions while working for WWF in the 1980s, that language was changed to an "unspecified amount" of concussions, noting that Haynes' filing "does not squarely allege the number of concussions he sustained during his stint with WWE, if any."
The filing also took aim at Haynes' claim that WWE hid the potential of CTE from him, noting that there were no known cases of CTE diagnosed in professional wrestlers until the "well publicized death of Chris Benoit in 2007" and notes:
"The thrust of Haynes’ lawsuit is that WWE concealed from him, in ways never explained, the medical science regarding the risks of repetitive head trauma which he at the same time admits have long been known. Haynes offers no explanation for the staleness of his claim. He pleads no diligence on his part for the last two and one -half decades. Instead, Haynes makes the conclusory allegation that his injuries were not detectable until manifestation and that he was unable to discover his injuries until being diagnosed. Haynes does not allege when he was diagnosed with depression or dementia, or even that he has been so diagnosed. He does not plead the date he finally discovered his injuries or his claims. Realizing the staleness of his lawsuit, Haynes offers one conclusory sentence seeking to estop WWE from invoking obviously applicable limitations– that WWE “knew that the Plaintiff and Class were suffering concussions during and prior to their careers and concealed that materials [sic] information from Plaintiff and all WWE wrestlers."
WWE's April response broke down Haynes' seven claims against the company, alleging that WWE "and its employees never “advised [Haynes] to seek treatment” and “discouraged Haynes from seeking appropriate outside medical care,” and as well as alleging WWE never warned him about the admittedly known risks of sustaining numerous blows to the head" should be dismissed as after two years.
Noting that it was well known at the time of his employment that repeated blows to the head could cause damage, WWE also noted that the time for filing such claims in Oregon should be dismissed, that the company and Haynes were never in a medical doctor-patient relationship, and that Haynes never cites a case beyond vague allegations. They also stated that Haynes' claim that WWE should set up medical monitoring be thrown out because it's not a "cause of action" in Oregon.
At the time Haynes' lawsuit was filed, WWE issued the following statement to PWInsider.com:
"Billy Jack Haynes performed for WWE from 1986-1988. His filed lawsuit alleges that WWE concealed medical information and evidence on concussions during that time, which is impossible since the condition now called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) had not even been discovered. WWE was well ahead of sports organizations in implementing concussion management procedures and policies as a precautionary measure as the science and research on this issue emerged. Current WWE procedures include ImPACT testing for brain function, annual educational seminars and the strict prohibition of deliberate and direct shots to the head. Additionally, WWE has committed significant funding for concussion research conducted by the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), leaders in concussion research, and WWE Executive Vice President Paul Levesque sits on SLI's board."
***
Today, WWE filed a motion to move the lawsuit brought against the company by Cassandra Frazier, the widow of Nelson Frazier Jr., who performed under a number of personas for the company, most recently Big Daddy V, to move it from The United States District Court in the Western District of Tennessee to Connecticut, using the granted motion in the Haynes lawsuit to bolster their request.
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