The five-year-old lawsuit filed by Paul Montador, father of former NHLer Steve Montador, that sought damages for the wrongful death of his son was terminated late last month by Judge John Z. Lee, a U.S. federal court judge.
Montador passed away on February 15th, 2015 at the age of 35 due to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, following a 14-year pro hockey career during which time, he had suffered 11 documented concussions.
Though the lawsuit as presented was not able to move forward in its current iteration, Judge Lee did provide some guidance to Paul Montador as to which claims he had grounds to pursue and which claims have essentially been thrown out, due to the league having been in compliance with the collective labour agreement.
Among the claims that The Montadors are free to pursue are negligence claims, specifically how the league promoted violence for monetary gain, but also how the league had downplayed the nature of Steve's injuries and advised him that he was not in any danger due to the brain trauma he had suffered. Lee's statement read:
"The duties upon which Montador relies for these two claims, a duty to not unreasonably promote violence and the duty to refrain from misrepresentative statements, are not grounded in the CBAs. Accordingly, these two claims are not pre-empted. Given that Montador may seek to amend his pleadings with additional facts and legal theories to maximize his chance of success on these two particular claims and the claims themselves likely will raise novel issues of state law, it is not at all clear how they will be decided.»<\i>
Montador also reportedly sustained an additional 8 concussions during his junior and post-NHL careers, for a total of 19 documented cases.
Paul Montador is currently weighing his options, and deciding whether or not to appeal the decision.
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