SEARCH
                 


Father of Steve Montador files second lawsuit in son's death

PUBLICATION
TJ Tucker
October 29, 2021  (12:54)
SHARE THIS STORY

Paul Montador's six-year legal battle against the NHL over the death of his son Steve Montador has taken another turn after he filed a second lawsuit against the NHL recently.

It's been 10 months since a judge dismissed the first lawsuit filed in Montador's death. The ruling at that time said that some claims made by Paul were preempted by the NHL's collective labour agreement with the NHLPA, which directs players with medical-related grievances to pursue private arbitration. However, the judge allowed Paul to proceed in state court to pursue negligence claims against the NHL that allege the league has unreasonably promoted a culture of violence, and led Steve to believe that the repeated brain trauma he suffered was not dangerous.

In his new claim, Paul says his son Steve suffered "thousands of sub-concussive brain traumas and multiple concussions, many of which were undiagnosed and/or undocumented."

"The NHL, armed with vastly superior managerial, medical, legal, and other resources to gather, analyze, and understand sub-concussion, concussion and head injury data, failed to keep Steven Montador reasonably safe during his career and misled him on the permanent ramifications of brain trauma," says the lawsuit.

Steve Montador played for 10 seasons in the NHL with six different teams, getting involved in some documented 69 fights throughout his career. He had a well-documented history of concussions, depression, memory problems and erratic behaviour.

"In 2007, during Steven Montador's sixth year in the league, the NHL was queried on the juxtaposition of 'knocked out' boxers sitting out from further fights for 60-90 days, while the NHL Enforcers/Fighters, even when knocked out, can come back into the game almost immediately. The NHL thought this was a good question, but did nothing to act on the provocative reality," said the new lawsuit.

The NHL has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. However, in the previous one, it stated that Steve's injuries were "caused, in whole or in part, by [Montador's] own lack of due care and fault, and/or by pre-existing conditions; and/or the lack of due care of others for whom the NHL has no responsibility or control." Following his death, Montador was diagnosed with CTE from repeated concussions.

Source: TSN.ca