In a decision of first impression, the U.S. District Court for
the Central District of California granted defendant's motion
for summary judgment against negligence and wrongful death claims
brought by the estates of two young men in Archie v. Pop
Warner, USDC CD CA 2:16-cv-06603.
Archie was brought by the mothers of two former youth
football players, each of whom died in their mid-twenties, a decade
after they last played youth football; one died from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound, the other in a motorcycle accident.
The mothers sued for money damages and to enjoin advertising that
"youth tackle football is safe for minor children." Front
and center in the complaint are allegations that exposure to
repetitive contact leads to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE),
the disease process found at autopsy of the brains of football
players Aaron Hernandez and Junior Seau. The plaintiffs in
Archie each claim that their son had CTE as the result of
playing youth football,
