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Former wrestlers' CTE lawsuit against WWE dismissed in court

Posted: Sep 10th 2020 By: Josh Nason

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed an appeal by former wrestlers suing WWE for claiming the company didn't protect them from repeated head injuries and concussions that could have resulted in CTE and other physical and mental health ailments.

In doing so, they affirmed the ruling by a Connecticut district court two years ago that the claims were either frivolous or filed after the statute of limitations expired and that WWE couldn't have known concussions or head injuries caused CTE.

Several cases that began popping up in 2014 and 2015 around the country were eventually consolidated in Connecticut and involved well-known wrestlers both dead and alive including Billy Jack Haynes, Jimmy Snuka, Paul Orndorff, King Kong Bundy, Mr. Fuji, Viscera, and more. An issue raised is that the wrestlers in question worked around the world for different organizations and not just WWE so identifying what organization brain injuries might have occurred in would prove difficult.

The Second Circuit also dismissed additional related lawsuits against WWE because they were filed too late as well as dismissed lawyer Konstantine Kyros' appeal of sanctions imposed by U.S. District judge Vanessa Bryant. In 2018, she ruled Kyros must pay WWE's legal fees for the case and said he repeatedly failed to comply with court rules and orders.

In a statement to the Associated Press, Kyros said the ruling was "utterly devoid of any original reasoning or engagement with the legal issues raised in the wrestlers' appeal. In its conclusory assertions, the injured wrestlers find no justice having been literally denied a day in court. Per this mandate, wrestlers have no rights, no rights to bring a lawsuit, no rights to help from WWE for CTE & head injuries, no rights as misclassified employees, no rights to a jury, and ironically no right to even appeal!”