NFL Punts Ex-Players’ Class Action Over Misuse of Prescription Pain Drugs

The National Football League won dismissal of a class action by ex-players accusing it of giving athletes painkillers and other drugs to mask injuries, after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Dec. 17 that collective bargaining rules block such complaints (Dent v. Nat’l Football League, 2014 BL 355245, N.D. Cal., 14-2324, 12/17/14).

Retired players including ex-Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon alleged in a suit filed in May that there was a “culture of drug misuse” in the NFL in which the league administered cocktails of medications, including opioids, local anesthetics and anti-inflammatories, ...