Last year, Broncos linebacker Aaron Patrick suffered a torn ACL due to a sideline collision at SoFi Stadium in a Monday night game against the Chargers. He filed a lawsuit seeking fair compensation for his injuries. His action could have much bigger ramifications for the NFL.
Patrick’s case, filed against the NFL, ESPN, the Rams, the Chargers, and other entities, was moved from state court to federal court by the NFL and the Chargers, under the argument that the dispute falls within the scope of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and that Patrick should be required to see relief through the CBA’s internal grievance procedures.
Patrick has argued that the claim has nothing to do with any aspect of the CBA, and that it’s a standard and basic “slip-and-fall” lawsuit arising from the question of whether the owners and operators of the premises on which a football game is played have responsibility to make the field reasonable safe.
Here’s where an otherwise boring question of federal labor-law preemption becomes potentially compelling. If Aaron Patrick prevails on this argument, the door could be opened for a class action against the owners and operators of every NFL stadium that utilizes artificial turf, with an argument that fake grass creates unreasonable risk of injury for those who play football on it.
It wouldn’t be an easy argument to make. But the possibility of such an attack on artificial surfaces currently is being contemplated. It would be an aggressive and creative way to use the legal system to force the NFL and its teams to provide safer playing surfaces for the men who play the game.
