{"id":3440,"date":"2020-12-18T15:01:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T15:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blog\/wordpress\/?p=3440"},"modified":"2020-12-18T15:01:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T15:01:53","slug":"rugby-union-and-dementia-the-legal-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/rugby-union-and-dementia-the-legal-implications\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby Union and Dementia: The Legal Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>This month we have heard the news that 8 former Rugby Union players, including the former England hooker Steve Thompson, will be bringing personal injury claims against rugby\u2019s governing bodies. They are claiming that as a result of negligence they have been left with permanent brain injuries, specifically dementia.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The litigation seems to be aimed principally at the Rugby Football Union, the Welsh Rugby Union and World Rugby and it appears that there is evidence that some 110 middle-aged former professional players are now suffering from symptoms of early on-set dementia or CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). They allege that repeated head collisions and high impact tackles resulted in regular concussion and sub-concussion injuries and that the cumulative effect of these injuries has resulted in permanent neurological impairment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>As in all personal injury claims, in order obtain compensation, the players will need to show:-<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. That there is a duty of care owed to them by the governing bodies, regarding their safety on the pitch. It seems clear that this would be established.<\/p>\n<p>2. That this duty of care has been breached. The question has to be asked as to whether rugby\u2019s governing bodies knew, or ought to have known, about the risks associated with repeated concussion? If they did, did they act reasonably in terms of taking precautions to prevent or reduce the frequency of the impacts and the consequent injuries?<\/p>\n<p>3. That there is a causal link between recurrent concussion injuries and the early onset dementia symptoms now being seen in retired players. They will also have to show that with earlier intervention by the governing bodies the long-term effects could have been avoided. This will be a matter for medical experts.<\/p>\n<p>4. That their claims are being brought within the limitation period.<\/p>\n<p>One line of defence that may well be raised by the sport\u2019s governing body is that a game like rugby is inherently risky, and this is something the players sign up to whenever they step on the pitch. However, with players coming forward saying they knew nothing of the possible long term-effects of repeated concussion, particularly when they began playing as children, and pitch-side diagnosis still far from an exact science, arguments that players knew the risks are not likely to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>If successful, these claims could open the flood gates to many more claims. It could also bring in sweeping changes to the way rugby and other contact sports are played. It could be the end of rugby union as we know it now. Even if they are unsuccessful there will be a large question mark over the way the game is currently played.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you need any help and advice in connection with any aspect of a head or brain injury, please call our experienced team on 0114218400 or email us at enquiries@tayloremmet.co.uk and we will be happy to help.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This month we have heard the news that 8 former Rugby Union players, including the former England hooker Steve Thompson, will be bringing personal injury claims against rugby\u2019s governing bodies. They are claiming that as a result of negligence they have been left with permanent brain injuries, specifically dementia. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":4280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[2405,2424,2473,1348,2510],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accidents-in-public-places","tag-personal-injury-2","tag-pi-claims","tag-rugby-union","tag-sports","tag-sports-injuries"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rugby Union and Dementia: The Legal Implications | Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/rugby-union-and-dementia-the-legal-implications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rugby Union and Dementia: The Legal Implications | Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This month we have heard the news that 8 former Rugby Union players, including the former England hooker Steve Thompson, will be bringing personal injury claims against rugby\u2019s governing bodies. They are claiming that as a result of negligence they have been left with permanent brain injuries, specifically dementia. 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